Corn growers keep consumers in mind and always have. And for many corn growers, key consumers are the beef, pork and poultry animals that grow to a healthy market weight with that golden feed grain. Just how much do corn growers value those meat "consumers"? Enough to support global marketing efforts to sell more beef, pork and poultry worldwide, as Colorado Corn demonstrated recently.

The group announced that has presented a check for $15,000 to the U.S. Meat Export Federation. This contribution, Colorado Corn's latest, took place during the Colorado Livestock Association's annual banquet. So far, the Colorado Corn Administrative Committee has contributed $94,000 to USMEF in recent years.

Troy Schneider, CCAC vice president, noted that the check presentation "served as yet another opportunity to highlight the relationship and correlation between the success of the livestock industry and that of corn producers." Schneider farms in Yuma and Washington counties.

He noted that the livestock industry remains the largest purchaser of U.S. grain corn, and most of the grain corn grown in Colorado goes to local livestock operations. "Furthermore, exports play a vital role for both grain corn and livestock producers in Colorado," he added.

Livestock key contributor to state ag export sector
Ag exports have a $1.7 billion impact on Colorado's economy, and three of the state's top five ag export sectors in the state are livestock- and livestock feed-related, with the top one being beef and No. 3 being feeds and fodder. No. 5 is dairy products.

This year's $15,000 contribution will specifically help USMEF with promotions and consumer messaging for American beef at Costco stores in South Korea. In recent years, CCAC has supported USMEF in a variety of promotion projects for beef in Japan, Taiwan and the Caribbean. And the group has also helped fund research on other countries' meat grading systems, and the development of international beef-cut education products.

CCAC oversees how Colorado's corn checkoff dollars — one penny per bushel of grain corn produced in the state — are spent on research, outreach and various other projects, including market development.

Since 2011, CCAC has invested more than $800,000 in market development efforts aimed at building grain corn demand, which is corn usually used for livestock feed and biofuels. These market development projects including promoting livestock and meat industries through support of USMEF, the All-American Beef Battalion and the U.S. Grains Council.

Source: Colorado Corn Administrative Committee