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A top U.S. corn market is on the line

Missouri Corn CEO Bradley Schad says U.S. corn farmers have a lot to lose if Mexico’s GMO corn ban goes into place. He says farmers have already bought seed and other inputs to grow corn for one of the top export markets.

“If we don’t stand by our science and what we’re producing, we won’t stand for anything. We have to stand up and do what’s right for our corn farmers and that’s what we’ve been pushing for in this administration,” says Schad. “There’s a huge market out there if we lost it, markets would go down.”

Schad says they’re watching the next steps now that the U.S. has rejected Mexico’s proposed compromise on biotech corn imports. He says the industry would still like to see formal action taken to enforce the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

“They’ve got to work through their ways of getting business done, but we’ve been asking for that and they threatened it this last time. We’re proud of getting that accomplished to get this to a point to bring it forward. We’re less than one year away from this ban going into effect.”

Brownfield interviewed Schad during the Missouri Corn Growers Association’s annual meeting this week in Jefferson City.