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Tapping into niche markets has been key to Indiana farmer’s success

An Indiana farmer says raising niche market corn and soybeans has kept his small farm profitable.  Mike Koehne tells Brownfield they grow high oleic soybeans, and those are the first GMO soybeans they ever raised.  “We started that three years ago,” he says.  “They are Indiana-founded and checkoff-funded”

He also raises food-grade soybeans that are put in a container and shipped to Taiwan. Koehne says they raise non-GMO corn, too.  Some of which is shipped down the Ohio River and then exported to Japan. “For dry milling for corn flour and chips,” he says.  “It’s a hard endosperm.  We also grow non-GMO corn that goes to a bourbon facility in Kentucky.”

He says these aren’t the easiest crops to raise, but the premiums do help keep his small farm competitive.

Koehne says if farmers want to raise niche market crops, there is a lot of legwork that needs to be done to see what kind of specialty market is the right fit.