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Boosting corn demand key to profitability

The chairman of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board says finding ways to increase corn demand is vital to farmer profitability.

Matt Raben, who farms in Gallatin County in southeastern Illinois, says farmers continue to explore domestic opportunities beyond the ethanol industry.

“Corn, you can break it down even more to come up with chemicals that you can use to replace, say, petroleum products.”  He says, “We have to support these industries. They might be small today; it’s just like ethanol was a long time ago. One of these times, something will stick and it’s going to expand and create more demand.”

He tells Brownfield building strong trading relationships to maintain export demand is also key.

“We have to be willing to open our doors and show them what we’re doing because they want to meet the people on the ground.”  He says, “They want to know where the food is coming from, where it’s grown. No different than here, but we need their markets.”

Raben says producers need strong demand to boost prices, especially at a time when rising input costs are squeezing margins.

AUDIO: Matt Raben – Illinois Corn Marketing Board