Illinois Corn Farmer Speaks Out on the Importance of USMCA for Ag

By Lyndi Allen • June 25, 2026

As the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement heads into its joint review this summer, an Illinois corn farmer, Matt Raben, is making the case that keeping the deal intact is essential to the farm economy. 

Raben emphasized the record year of exports this past year as evidence of how much is riding on stable trade with the U.S.’s neighboring countries. "We saw record exports last year… corn exports, they were 72.5 million metric tons,” he said. "2.85 billion bushels of corn sold worldwide in the marketing year 2024 and 25." On the biofuel side, he shared "2.1 billion gallons of ethanol sold worldwide in the marketing year 2024-25."


Raben spoke about the importance of the USMCA, especially for corn farmers, noting that Mexico is the top export destination for U.S. corn and Canada is the top destination for U.S. ethanol.

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