Indiana’s corn checkoff board elects new officers while adding one new member

The Indiana Corn Marketing Council (ICMC), the state’s corn checkoff program, added a new member, welcomed four incumbents and elected new executive officers during its meeting last week. Returning to board service at ICMC are Fowler, Ind., farmer Natasha Cox; Roachdale, Ind., farmer Paul Hodgen; Ferdinand, Ind., farmer J.R. Roesner; and Huntingburg, Ind., farmer David Ring.

Hamilton County farmer Adam Sheller was elected to an at-large position on the ICMC board earlier this year. Sheller will serve in the position vacated by Anderson, Ind., farmer Josh Miller, who was elected in July as Chairman of the U.S. Grains Council (USGC). Miller served for six years on the ICMC board, and he was the board’s president for two years (2020-2021). He chose not to seek re-election to the ICMC board, after serving for six years, due to his USGC duties.

“We want to congratulate our newest board member, Adam Sheller, but first we’d like to sincerely thank Josh Miller,” said ICMC CEO Courtney Kingery. “Thank you, Josh, for your dedication and commitment to the board all these years. I have learned so much from you, and we look forward to your leadership at the national level on U.S. Grains Council.”

Sheller grows corn and soybeans, and also raises goats, on his farm near Noblesville, Ind. A farmer since 2016, he has a degree in agricultural education from Purdue University. Sheller has an off-farm job in insurance sales, and he also works at the county level with Indiana Farm Bureau. While on the board, Sheller said, “I hope to improve the market conditions for growers, no matter if they have large farms or small farms.”

An ICMC board director since 2016, Cox has worked with many farm organizations including Indiana Farm Bureau, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture Advisory Board and the Purdue Dean’s Advisory Council. She represents District 1, which includes Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Starke, Pulaski, Jasper, White, Benton, and Newton counties.

Among the first priorities at last week’s meeting was electing new officers. Hodgen, who served as the board’s president in 2022, was re-elected to the post for 2023. Greensburg, Ind., farmer Tim Gauck was selected as vice president. Ring was elected as the board’s secretary, and Roesner will serve as treasurer.

Vincennes, Ind., corn grower Susan Brocksmith will lead the checkoff’s Market Development Committee, and Brownstown, Ind., farmer Matthew Lucas will chair the Sustainability and Value Creation Committee. In those
roles, Brocksmith and Lucas will serve on the executive committee for ICMC.

Hodgen, a full-time farmer since 2012, grows corn and soybeans and raises beef cattle on his farm that touches Putnam, Montgomery, Tippecanoe and Hendricks counties. On the board, Hodgen represents District 4, which includes the counties of Warren, Tippecanoe, Montgomery, Putnam, Owen, Clay, Vigo, Parke, Vermillion, and Fountain.

Gauck grows corn, soybeans and wheat in rural Decatur, Rush and Ripley counties. He started farming in 1972. Gauck participated in the Decatur County Corn Growers Association and served as the group’s president from 1988-91. He was first elected to the ICMC Board in 2017. Gauck is an at-large board director.

Ring, also an at-large board member, grows corn, soybeans and wheat on his farm that stretches into Dubois, Spencer and Warrick counties in southern Indiana. Along with his son, Brent, they also raise turkeys for Farbest Foods. Ring earned a bachelor’s degree in business education from Oakland City University and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Evansville.

On the ICMC board since 2015, Roesner was also elected to the National Corn Growers Association’s Corn Board in July. He grows corn and soybeans on his farm that touches Dubois, Pike, Spencer and Warrick counties. He represents the District 7 counties of Sullivan, Greene, Daviess, Martin, Knox, Dubois, Pike, Gibson, Warrick, Spencer, Vanderburgh and Posey.

Brocksmith and her husband, Mike, grow non-GMO corn and soybeans on their no-till farm in Knox County. Off the farm, she works as a professor at Vincennes University. Brocksmith has been an at-large board director since 2019.

Lucas grows corn and soybeans in a partnership with his father, James, on their farm in Jackson County. They are also contract swine producers. Lucas earned a degree in agribusiness from Purdue University in 2020.