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| USDA Export Credit Program for U.S. Grain Purchases Now Totals $5.375 Billion |
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Find out how the Council is working for you. For every bushel of corn, barley and sorghum you produce for market, you receive direct value in return from the activities of the U.S. Grains Council. That’s like money in your pocket! Use the calculator below to find your ROI.
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| My ROI: | $--.-- |
In this video titled, "Developing Markets, Enabling Trade, Improving Lives," the U.S. Grains Council exhibits the importance of building the global marketplace for U.S. barley, corn sorghum and their co-products. Dale Artho, USGC past chairman and Texas grain sorghum producer said, "We (U.S. farmers) can grow some of the finest products in the world; we still need to sell it. Without the involvement in the international marketplace, it just doesn't happen."
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| Corn Commentary |
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49th Annual Board of Delegates Meeting
July 19-22, 2009
The Westin San Diego
San Diego, CA
June 26, 2009
With more down days than up, it was another bearish week for commodities. The week opened with corn export inspections in respectable territory, but many owners of corn contracts went further underwater when 14 cents came off the board.
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Past Market Perspectives
On June 24 and July 2, USDA announced an additional $1.05 billion for GSM-102 export credit guarantees for the 2009 fiscal year, bringing this year's total allocations to $5.375 billion. The GSM-102 program provides guarantees to U.S. banks against the risk of non-payment by a foreign bank in the sale of U.S. agricultural commodities.
The U.S. Grains Council hosted Jorge Bedoya, president of the Colombian Poultry Association (FENAVI) in Morocco last week. Bedoya spent the week working with the Moroccan Poultry Association (FISA) on how to improve its operations and the management of the association. He made presentations to the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture and to the FISA board of directors on how Colombia was successful in establishing a poultry checkoff fund.
Farmers faced looming adversity during the spring planting season, causing lowered expectations, but ultimately overcame. USDA projects the second-largest corn planting acreage since 1946, after 2007. Early stages of planting were similar to last year's conditions. Though low temperatures and frequent precipitation slowed planting in early May, warmer dryer conditions eventually returned, allowing farmers to make accelerated progress in late May. 
Forming partnerships with global end-users is absolutely vital to accessing, developing and defending markets for U.S. corn, barley, sorghum and all related co-products. This is a strategic process requiring U.S. Grains Council directors and consultants to gather a great deal of intelligence about specific markets outside U.S. borders.
Rich in nutrients and loaded with fiber, U.S. waxy barley has made its debut in the Japanese market through focused campaigns. In April 2009, 1,100 metric tons (50.5 million bushels) of U.S. food barley was exported to Japan and was purchased by several Japanese barley processors. A popular Japanese restaurant chain, Ootoya, added to its menu of traditional Japanese-style cuisine U.S. barley, tomato and green vegetable soup.
Jim Wiesemeyer, senior vice president of policy and trade issues for Informa Economics, is scheduled to speak at the Council's 49th Annual Board of Delegates Meeting in San Diego, Calif., July 19-22. With his experience reporting on major farm bills and trade policy in Washington, D.C., since 1978, Wiesemeyer will address the ongoing changes in Washington, D.C., with the new administration and how it impacts trade policy.