The export market is an extremely important market for Illinois corn, but also for U.S. red meat.  The very best opportunity for Illinois and the U.S. is to grow corn domestically, feed livestock domestically, and export meat to the global marketplace.

U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) helps us do just that.  The Illinois Corn Marketing Board is a long-time funder of USMEF, recognizing the opportunity to increase value and economic development in the United States by increasing meat consumption worldwide.

In a recent presentation from USMEF, we learned the following:

• U.S. beef and pork exports accounted for 2.1 million acres of corn production or 355 million bushels of corn
• This represented $1.3 billion in added value to the corn industry
• U.S. beef and pork exports accounted for 1.48 million tons of Dried Distillers Grains with Soluables (DDGS) (169-bushel equivalent) and added $205.4 million in value to DDGS
• Combined, U.S. beef and pork exports accounted for 11.7 million tons of combined corn and DDGS feed and 3.1 million acres of total production
• If all other demands were held constant in 2015, but there were no beef or pork exports, the price of corn would have been about $0.45/bushel lower. 
• This would have resulted in a total lost value of about $6 billion to corn farmers in the U.S.
• 1 in every 3 pounds of additional U.S. beef produced over the next 10 years will be exported
• 1 in every 2.75 pounds of additional U.S. pork produced over the next 10 years will be exported
• USDA estimates that feed demand for corn will grow by 17% over the next 10 years as compared to a 2% decline in food use and a 3% decline in ethanol use of corn*
• Over the next 10 years, the projected total value of red meat exports to corn is $16.1 billion.
• Over the next 10 years, the projected total value of red meat exports to DDGS is $2.614 billion.