AgWired

The Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) is focused on reaching out to Iowans and consumers to tell them about the value of Iowa corn farmers. One avenue in which they do this, is through their sponsorship of the Cy-Hawk series and last Saturday, the University of Iowa beat Iowa State in the football game known as the Super Bowl of Iowa. ICGA was there to tell consumers about all of the products that contain corn.

ICGA CEO Craig Floss said that during the game, they were able to get out advertising messages and talk about the importance of Iowa’s corn fed economy and what corn means to the job outlook and picture in Iowa. They were also able to tell the story of how ethanol fits into the picture and what that means for Iowa corn farmers.

A lot of people don’t understand that there is no competition between food, feed, fuel, and fiber. You can find corn in any of these products, said Floss, and he also explained that anything that can be made from petroleum can also be made from corn.

“We hope and we know that the majority of Iowans, 80 plus percent of Iowans, use ethanol every day, which means everywhere they go, they’re using something produced from a corn grower,” said Floss.

The big game happened to fall on 9-11 this year, a day that most of us will never forget. I asked Floss why this day is so important to Iowa’s corn farmers.

“There is no other liquid form of petroleum product like ethanol that can actually replace foreign produced oil. And the bulk of our oil comes from countries that have governments that are not like ours,” said Floss. He continued that everyone was touched by the event and has a connection to the event and we need to find a way to send less money to those countries. That is why we like corn farmers. They’re good for our economy and good for our security.

Floss concluded that corn farmers will continue to exceed the needs of all those products that need corn and that we haven’t seen anything yet.

You can see pictures from game day in the Iowa Corn Fed Game Day photo album.

You can listen to my interview with Craig Floss here. Iowa Corn Farmers Will Reach New Heights

The crop report was released last week and the USDA is predicting a record harvest – even after accounting for excessive rain in areas of the Midwest. In Iowa alone, 40 percent of the corn crop goes to ethanol but nationally only 20 percent of the total corn crop goes to ethanol. Also, the livestock industry is the largest consumer of Iowa corn.

I was able to spend some time with the Iowa Corn Growers Association’s (ICGA) new President Dean Taylor last Saturday before the Iowa versus Iowa State football game. My first question for Dean, was in fact, what are we going to do with all this corn? We’re going to produce feed, food, fiber and fuel, he said.

“The fuel, the feed, the fiber, the ethanol….all these things are very important. Especially now that we grow so much corn, we have to remember that what we put into ethanol was never even in the market for feed in the past because we’re just growing that much more corn,” said Taylor.

ICGA along with the Corn Promotion Board joined together to sponsor the Cy-Hawk series – the men’s football, basketball and wrestling matches. I asked Taylor why this sponsorship was so important. He said it’s a great opportunity to showcase all of their products and what they do in Iowa. “It’s contributing to our fuel situation in this country because it’s homegrown instead of imported and that adds to our bottom line. It adds a little bit to our fuel security and the way to look at it, every little bit helps,” said Taylor.

So, what is a product that uses corn that many don’t realize? Bioplastics. When corn is added to bioplastics in replacement of oil, then the plastics become biodegradable. But bioplastics are just one product among thousands that use corn. To learn about the other products, visit www.iacornfed.com.

Well, Iowa won the football game in a landslide but that didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits. In conclusion, Taylor said, “Every day is a corn day and every day is a winning day for Iowa corn farmers.”

You can see pictures from game day in the Iowa Corn Fed Game Day photo album.

You can listen to my interview with Dean Taylor here. Corn, Corn Everywhere