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Study: corn refining industry is critical to ag and economic value chain

A new study highlights the economic impact of U.S. corn refiners.

John Bode, president and CEO of the Corn Refiners Association, says the 25 U.S. corn refining facilities process 10-15 percent of all corn produced in America.

“That supports over 167,000 jobs in America and produces economic output of $47 billion,” he says. “$3.3 billion are paid in terms of the state and federal taxes because of our industry.”

He tells Brownfield the report highlights the role corn refiners play in the nation’s ag and economic value chain.

“We have a really important food and agricultural sector,” he says. “About 23 million jobs in America, or 15 percent of U.S. employment, is related to food and agriculture and corn refining is a significant part of that. We need it all and we certainly need more really good jobs in rural America.”

Bode says the association is working with the Biden administration to show the economic impact of corn refiners.

“We’ve been getting to know new people coming into the Biden administration because they’ll be important in government decision making and what we’re hearing from them is that they want to know about the impact on jobs and trade and they also want good data to demonstrate the impact that varying policies would have on jobs in our industry and related industries,” he says.

Bode says the corn refining industry is innovative and is transitioning to meet growing consumer needs, especially in the advanced bioproducts space. He says the sector is staying strong by meeting tomorrow’s demands.

The economic study was completed by John Dunham and Associates. Click here for more information.