IL Corn Welcomes Mexican Millers to Illinois Farms

This week, Illinois farmers welcomed some of the most important buyers they’ll ever meet. Leaders from Mexico’s masa and flour milling industry, including representatives from GRUMA, MINSA, Harimasa, Harinera Panamericana and other CANAMI member companies, spent three days in southern Illinois as part of an Export Exchange pre-tour hosted by the IL Corn Marketing Board in partnership with the U.S. Grains and BioProducts Council (USGBC).

The trade team visit is something that can’t be built from a distance: relationships. Mexico is the top customer for all U.S. corn, and its masa millers need a steady supply of food-grade white corn grown and handled to strict quality and segregation standards. Illinois farmers can deliver that, and visits like this one show buyers exactly how.

The team visited Ellis Farm near Harrisburg, where Pervis Ellis and his brother grow white corn, soybeans, wheat and seed crops on challenging bottom-ground gumbo soils, and O’Daniel Farms near Fairfield for a white corn breeding discussion with Dr. Daniel Sweeney of Pioneer and a farm tour with Matt Rush. They also followed the grain to market at the Viserion Grain river terminal in Shawneetown and the ADM river terminal in St. Louis, and met with the National Corn Growers Association on USMCA, non-GMO standards and the trade issues that affect corn moving across the border.

“Mexico is our best customer, and that relationship is vital to Illinois farmers. When buyers see the fields, meet the people and understand the care that goes into every bushel, they know they can count on Illinois (and U.S. farmers),” said Matt Raben, Ridgway, Illinois, farmer and chairman of the IL Corn Marketing Board.

Earlier white corn programs in Illinois, Nebraska and Missouri have already led to production contracts and helped restore white corn exports to Mexico. This visit builds on that work, introducing more CANAMI member companies to the growers, cooperatives and grain handlers who can supply them.