Plenty of policy is being discussed in Orlando, Florida this week at Commodity Classic as different commodity groups gather to set policy priorities, but the checkoff organizations are also well represented on the trade show floor. Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance directors are on site talking about how to “move the pile” of Indiana products.
“New uses, new markets, new places to go with our soybeans we produce in Indiana,” says Brazil, Indiana farmer Kevin Cox, vice chair of the Indiana Soybean Alliance. “That’s the ultimate goal at the end of the day is to get rid of more beans.”
Cox recently traveled to Dubai for the world’s largest food exhibition with about 70,000 people in attendance.
“Indiana’s the largest producer of the high oleic soybean oil, and so we were there to discuss the benefits of that product. We’re hoping to get into that market. Right now, we’re producing more and more all the time, but the demand is growing and so keeping up with that demand is going to be the challenge.”
Cox is grateful for the partnerships they have with organizations like the US Grains Council, the US Meat Export Federation, and the USA Poultry & Egg Council, or USAPEEC. Indiana Soybean Alliance and Indiana Corn Marketing Council members also serve on the board of directors for those organizations.
Cox went to Dubai as a member of the USAPEEC board. He says he didn’t realize how critically important the poultry industry is to moving Indiana soybeans until he took the trip.
“To see how important that product is to that part of the world, that’s their main food stay, is that meat product. It’s those chickens and turkeys- huge demand for turkeys. Every processor, distributor that we went to is needing more turkeys or wanting more turkeys. So, there’s demand there for our product. Every other country in the world is trying to export product into that area… That Dubai region, 85% to 90% of everything that they consume is imported. There’s a huge market potential there and everybody’s vying for it. So, these companies that we partner with, they’re all working toward that same goal to try to move our products into that part of the world.”
Watch the video with Cox and Indiana Corn Marketing Council director Susan Brocksmith, who farms near Vincennes, as they discuss the relationships with these organizations and how they’re benefiting Indiana farmers below. And be sure to see how your Indiana corn and soybean checkoff investments yesterday are paying off today at YourCheckoff.org.
