Yesterday, we talked with Pat Swanson of the Iowa Soybean Association about the wish list they were bringing to the policy meetings on Saturday at Commodity Classic. Today, we are looking at what is important to the Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA).
Jolene Riessen is President of the ICGA and she talks about a whole host of policies they will be weighing in on at the NCGA policy meeting on Saturday in Houston.
But the policies they are talking about affect beyond the corn industry. One of those is the classification of lab-grown proteins as “meat.” Many corn producers also raise livestock, and livestock producers use a lot of corn. Riessen says that it is in the interest of grain commodity groups to stand with the livestock side of the ag industry.
Of course, expanding markets for corn and corn products, such as ethanol, is also very important. Riessen touched on an option that may be opening up to expand ethanol markets in India.
Riessen also says that working with China is a concern because it is a market that can be very lucrative, and she says that the willingness to find solutions is coming from both sides, but sometimes federal-level politics get in the way of grass-roots conversations.
Next week we will get an update from ICGA on how the policy discussion worked out.
