Collectively, beef, poultry, pork and dairy producers represent corn growers’ number-one customer, consuming 4.4 billion bushels annually. Corn used directly as feed represents nearly 60% of consumption, however, industrial co-products used as feed represents another 20% of corn usage. The co-products of industrial processing are largely fed to ruminants domestically and internationally. The ability to sell these co-products profitably can indicate the potential financial success of certain industrial processes, such as ethanol production. With the majority of U.S. corn being fed to domestic livestock, it is of utmost importance to work with this industry to address issues of mutual concern.

NCGA and its state partners were extremely successful in focusing attention and resources towards the sequencing of the corn genome. This success has opened the door into the next phase of corn genomics, namely applying the information that we have gained to produce valuable corn crops. The Maize Trait Development program is in the initial stages of finding organizations that have discovered traits of interest to our growers and partnering with them to bring these traits to market.

Bioproducts, or corn-based industrial products, are the single largest potential growth market for corn growers. Ethanol currently utilizes 700 million bushels of corn. There is great potential in areas such as plastics, solvents, packaging and other consumer goods to provide very large markets for U.S.-grown crops. There are also tremendous opportunities for grower-owned processing facilities and rural development, which is a pressing issue for rural America and agriculture as a whole. Finally, developing and using products made from renewable, U.S.-grown resources are important to America’s energy security and environment.