Annual Report.
Working for Corn Farmers
Highlights from the 2023 Annual Report
- Enabling More E-15 Access at the Pump
- Spotlighting Unleaded 88 During Derby Season
- Bringing the Farm to the EPA
- Taking a Stand Against Mexico’s Biotech Corn Ban
- Strengthening Global Grain Partnerships
- Providing a Voice for Kentucky Corn Farmers
- And More!
Ray Allan Mackey, Kentucky Corn Promotion Council Chairman
Keeping the right balance among programming and priorities is a challenge for any organization and Kentucky Corn Promotion Council is not exempt from this. Actually, I would suggest that we are presented with a bigger challenge in that arena than most, given our small (two-person) staff and Kentucky’s broad diversity within our agriculture and grain industry. I believe we punch way above our weight class, but prioritizing programming is a complicated element of what we do that we always contend with given the size and scale of our organization.
Over the winter, we revised our strategic plan – Josh will discuss that effort in more depth in his column, but I will say the overall result was a confirmation among the farmers in the room to be sure the priority in programming remains corn demand: bolster markets and seek new uses. First and foremost, we exist to get rid of the pile of corn that farmers create each year. Under my watch, we will never lose sight of that. Ever.
After confirming corn demand as priority number one, we had a very robust discussion about the importance of consumer interaction through our communications programming. The farmer-led strategic planning team instructed staff to bolster communication efforts and the Council invested farmer checkoff funding to empower those goals. Last spring, we repurposed some consumer communication assets relating to mid-level ethanol blends for an information campaign throughout the KY Derby Festival. That investment culminated with an aggressive media buy on race weekend. You can read about that campaign on page 8.
Consumer awareness and acceptance are critical to a healthy corn demand portfolio and we attain that through interaction with them. Furthermore, grain farmers’ perception and image to the public are very important to the success of many of our advocacy efforts. As urban consumers are distanced from their own experiences on the farm and in rural life, we risk a lost connection with our customers. In some cases, we need to restore trust and enhance our ability to remind everyone of our commitment to the many priorities that we share with consumers.
Recognizing that, we are building a project to celebrate farmers through the seasons of a farming year, starting with developing a media kit around the act, or ordeal, of harvest. “This is Harvest” has been filmed and is in production for release next fall. It encompasses the family aspect of harvest season farming roles. It will pull at the heartstrings and remind consumers that food comes from hardworking, dedicated families. We are also gearing up for a similar themed media kit that expresses the excitement and anticipation of planting a crop, we envision it to be entitled “Are You Planting Yet?” Over the next couple of years, we intend to place this material in front of urban consumers to reconnect them to their farming roots, that may be generations past, but we know is still there.
Josh Lancaster, Kentucky Corn Growers Association President
.Anyone who knows me knows that I am an intense planner and strategist. In my opinion, a sound plan is more than just the key to success – it is the only way to achieve true success because even if you don’t fail from lack of a plan, you would have succeeded better with a plan.
My farming operations are meticulously planned, each enterprise has its own plan. It sometimes requires more work and willpower on the front end, but I think it is so important to take the emotion out of decision-making, and having a plan helps ensure that. Plans allow processes to continue in someone’s absence. Plans keep the whole team focused and informed on how priorities have been set. When circumstances change, the plan and the backup plan are the first resources we go to to adjust course in response to the change that has been presented. Since our occupation is one of society’s riskiest, I want to control what I can control and I must know my steps for reacting to factors that I cannot control.
I think this is a great philosophy for the industry and for the Kentucky Corn Growers Association to follow, as well. So, as the Association President I was pleased to have the opportunity to chair a group of fellow farmers on the Corn Board and Promotion Council in our effort to update our strategic plan. Our strategic plan is on a 5-year review cycle. In this review cycle, our plan evolved slightly. As we assessed our current environment we made some key observations.
Evolving risks and challenges will continue to confront Kentucky corn farmers – markets, weather, inputs, regulation, public attitudes/activists, sustainability, ethanol demand, farmer demographics, and needs of next-generation farmers.
KyCorn has up-side opportunities to leverage on behalf of farmers – the discovery of new uses/products, more global demand, higher blend biofuels, and technology.
Kentucky Corn Growers Association seeks to maximize those opportunities and prepare Kentucky’s corn farmers to overcome those risks and challenges. You can reach out to us for a complete report of our effort to evaluate our industry’s past, present, and future. But, here is a summary of the outcome of this exercise:
The Purpose of Kentucky Corn is to:
- Protect and grow corn markets.
- Shape a supportive business environment for KY corn farmers to help them succeed.
We set Four Strategic Objectives:
- Support More Corn Demand. Actively collaborate with leaders of traditional corn markets to help protect those markets and leverage opportunities to grow more corn demand in these markets.
- Discover New Markets/Uses. Work with partners to develop new domestic and global markets and collaborate with others to invest in the discovery of new uses and new products to help drive corn demand.
- Help Farmers Navigate Change. Assist KY corn farmers in recognizing emerging public and political trends that can impact their farm operation and encourage the adoption of measures by farmers that help mitigate public concerns.
- Implement Effective Advocacy. Elevate trust in KY corn farmers among policymakers, regulators, influencers, and the public to help support creating reasonable and workable policies and practices that impact the business of corn farming.
Trust me, I don’t participate in the process of developing a plan just to let it sit on a shelf. Just as in the previous version of our strategic plan, every action we take and every investment we recommend to the Council will relate to the outline we have identified here.
You will see in the remainder of this report that we have followed our plan. We will continue to follow it because that ensures the highest likelihood of success for you and me. It is our responsibility to you when you entrust us with these advocacy leadership roles and to appoint the farmer leaders on the Promotion Council to be stewards of the resources you provide through the Kentucky Corn checkoff program.