By: Sheila Crowley
Murray County News Staffwriter
A large contingent of people was on hand Thursday evening, March 28th to share in the Murray County 25th anniversary of the Corn and Soybean Growers group. Their primary objective is to ensure that corn and soybeans remain a viable product for years to come.
Chad Willis of the Minnesota Research and Promotion Council was on hand to give an account of what has been happening. One of the items mentioned was the use of corn in helping to strength plastics such as plastic silverware. His involvement, especially on the national side, is to help develop new uses for corn. He also serves on the board of US Grains due to China, Canada, or NAFTA agreement. Willis did mention although trades are strained with China there is ethanol going there via other countries. “Once China does open up,” he said, “this could be a billion-gallon market.” He mentioned Canada as another large market. “Mexico is also huge. This could be a billion dollar market as well. That’s why Canada/Mexico is vitally important.” Willis complimented the Murray County Corn and Soybean Growers on their 25th anniversary.
Gene Stoel, MN Soybean Research and Promotions director addressed the crowd. He thanked the board for allowing him to stay involved. Stoel stated it has been 18 years since his initial involvement at the county level. Part of his involvement at the state and national level help to decide how the checkoff dollars spent. He also mentioned China in his comments and their impact on soybean trade. Stoel shared three years the national level discussed finding other markets. “We went to look for places that were some what like China 25 years ago. Currently, one in every third row (soybeans) goes to China.” Places the group identified included Southeast Asia (Vietnam and Indonesia and countries in that area). “We’ve identified those growing markets to try and export more beans to.”
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