With harvest behind us, our attention turns to state and federal policy goals 

By Chris Cherry, President of the Indiana Corn Growers Association 

The 2024 harvest season went by as one of the smoothest in many years – although there were some unique challenges. The soybean dilemma brought us the decision of whether to continue cutting soybeans at 8 percent moisture or to wait for a rain that just wasn’t coming. Corn harvest was also unique. We harvested corn at 13 percent moisture while still producing good yields. 

Harvest is always a nice way to wrap up the year and to think of the many blessings that we have as Hoosier farmers. Prices are obviously the one thing that we can’t control and bring us some of the greatest stress levels. Corn and soybean prices are hovering at five-year lows and that brings high levels of anxiety and uncertainty in these turbulent times. 

Now that harvest is behind us, we can now put our focus back on getting things accomplished for fellow Indiana farmers. Year round E15, the farm bill and sustainable aviation fuel continue to be at the forefront of our minds and discussions. 

The results in the November election bring many changes in state and federal leadership. We obviously will have a change in the White House; but within Indiana, we will have a new governor, U.S. senator and three new U.S. House members. 

We are hard at work getting meetings set up with the new officeholders and staff to bring them up to speed on Indiana corn farmer priorities. No matter who is in office, ICGA farmer-leaders and staff will be there to advance our priorities. 

I serve on the Biofuels Action Team with the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), and our team is working hard to generate more opportunities to burn our product in all types of fuel tanks. The Biofuels Action team consists of individuals from almost all of the states that make up the NCGA. 

Although geographically we may face different issues as farmers, when we get together on this team, we are certainly pulling the rope in the same direction. It’s been a unique opportunity to meet and become friends with other farmers across the country. 

We continue to work with our great Hoosier leaders in the legislature to get things done. 

We are thankful for all of those that are members of the Indiana Corn Growers Association. Currently, we have about 800 members across the State of Indiana, but there are about 20,000 farmers that we are representing. We are continuously trying to grow our membership. So, if you know of someone who should be a member but isn’t, don’t be afraid to send them our way. 

Khyla Goodman is ICGA’s Industry Outreach Manager, and she’s the person you want to talk to when it comes to becoming a member. You can reach Khyla by email at kgoodman@incorn.org.