Lindsay Mitchell, director of communications for the Illinois Corn Growers Association, describes how the corn checkoff program — which receives five-eighths of a cent per bushel of corn sold in Illinois — serves an important role in statewide consumer education:
“We are the only corn state with corn checkoff dollars where we can reach out to such a significant market, such as the Chicago area,” Mitchell said. “Think about it: there’s no corn growers association in California or New York.
“So we have an opportunity (to educate) and we take advantage of it quite a bit. We invest a significant amount of dollars talking to non-farmers about what people are doing on the farm.”
The Corn Growers’ educational efforts have also been focused on clarifying the role and benefits of ethanol as a reliable and environmentally friendly source of fuel, in addition to explaining the nutritional benefits of GMOs.
“There’s a lot confusion about ethanol,” Mitchell said. “At the base level, people don’t understand there’s a difference between field corn and sweet corn. Sometimes we have to start there to explain we are not taking food out of peoples’ mouths when we use corn for ethanol.
“Or, that yields are increasing exponentially year after year. There’s definitely more than enough corn to go around.
“In the past we’ve talked about GMOs (genetically modified organisms) to help people understand that there’s really no nutritional difference … (between GMOs and non-GMOs).”
To listen to the complete interview with the Illinois Corn Growers Association, please click the link below:
