TWO IL CORN FARMERS TAKE U.S. GRAINS COUNCIL BOARD POSITIONS

Tricia Braid

Aug 03, 2017  |  Today's News |  ICMB

The Chairman and immediate past Chairman of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board have each been elected to a board seat on the U.S. Grains Council Board of Directors. Jim Raben, ICMB Chairman, was re-elected as an at-large director for USGC. And Tom Mueller, ICMB Chairman of 2015-16, was elected to the Board as the Corn Sector Director. The USGC develops export markets for U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including DDGS and ethanol. UCGC and IL Corn believe exports are vital to global economic development and to U.S. agriculture's profitability. Raben and Mueller will play a vital leadership role in USGC’s work. IL Corn leverages corn checkoff dollars with the Council to develop, grow, and maintain corn, ethanol, and DDGS markets around the world.

“We value our partnership with the Grains Council,” said ICMB Chairman Raben. “Exports account for thirty-one percent of annual cash farm receipts. That’s a market share that we cannot afford to ignore.”

“Trade matters, there’s no two-ways about it,” Mueller agreed. “Particularly to us here in Illinois as more than half of our corn crop leaves the state as corn or some other form of corn, like meat, ethanol, or DDGS.”

The full USGC Board of Directors includes:

  • Deb Keller, Chairman, Iowa Corn Promotion Board
  • Jim Stitzlein, Consolidated Grain and Barge Co., Vice Chairman
  • Darren Armstrong, Corn Growers Association of North Carolina, Inc., Secretary/Treasurer
  • Philip “Chip” Councell, Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board, Past Chairman
  • Tom Sleight, President and CEO
  • Ray Defenbaugh, Big River Resources LLC, Agribusiness/Ethanol And Co-Products Sector Director
  • Craig Floss, Iowa Corn Promotion Board, Checkoff Sector Director
  • Greg Hibner, J.D. Heiskell Hawkeye Gold Office, Agribusiness Sector Director
  • Charles Ray Huddleston, Texas Grain Sorghum Association, Sorghum Sector Director
  • Philip McCoun, Kentucky Corn Promotional Council, At-Large Director
  • Tom Mueller, Illinois Corn Marketing Board, Corn Sector Director
  • Jim Raben, Illinois Corn Marketing Board, At-Large Director
  • Mark Seastrand, North Dakota Barley Council, Barley Sector Director
  • Jim Stuever, Missouri Corn Merchandising Council, At-Large Director
  • Chad Willis, Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion Council, At-Large Director

This Board of Directors seated Wednesday will serve until July 2018.