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Report helps US farmers and international corn buyers 

The director of global strategies for the US Grains Council says the organization’s corn quality harvest report helps improve international buyer sentiment and encourages trade of US corn.

Kurt Shultz says the report, which was released in December, benefits US farmers as well as international corn buyers.

“It’s a way to engage in a two-way dialogue from a quality perspective so they can get some questions they have addressed and we get to hear any concerns they may have,” he says. “we also get to discuss what  they see for their purchase expectations for the next 12 months.”

The report shows a good to excellent quality corn crop contributed to this year’s record crop, which is projected to be 14.6 billion bushels, the second-largest on record.

The average test weight of 58.4 pounds per bushel was higher than the five-year average and shows improvement in kernel depth.

Shultz tells Brownfield not many other countries release a crop quality report.

“This allows the US to be a little bit more transparent and as the largest supplier of corn in international market, it gives some confidence,” he says.

The report is based on more than 600 corn samples taken from 12 of the top corn-producing and exporting states. This is the seventh year for the report.

Audio: Kurt Shultz, US Grains Council