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Issue 3: USGC Members are the Council's Foundation |
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 When the U.S. Grains Council began operations in 1960, its membership roster consisted of seven members. From this original foundation, it has been a journey to bring the Council to its current status, 120 members strong. In the early 1970s, agribusiness members represented a majority of the membership demographic. Ken Hobbie, USGC president and CEO recalls, "When I joined the Council's staff in 1976, it was largely an agribusiness association. There were three agribusiness representatives for every producer representative. Today that ratio is reversed." Just as in today's climate, the mid-1970s were faced with global economic forces creating a strain on world trade and the Council's financial ability to support future programs and initiatives.
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Issue 2: From Dream to Ironing Board to Reality |
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 The first contract for the development of foreign markets for U.S. feed grains was drawn up between the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and the Grain Sorghum Producers Association (GSPA) in December 1958. D.G. (Bill) Nelson of GSPA reportedly said that because of a lack of an office and a staff, the contract was typed on his wife's ironing board with a rented typewriter. The 20 copies that FAS required were made on a Xerox at the local bank for 25 cents a piece.
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Issue 1: How Iowa Hogs Helped Make Japan U.S. Farmers Top Export Market for U.S. Feed Grains |
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 Japan is by far the largest foreign market for U.S. feed grains, importing over 15 million metric tons per year from the United States. This tremendous market for U.S. feed grains can be traced to the market development efforts of the U.S. Grains Council funded by barley, corn and sorghum producers and agribusinesses in cooperation with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service as well as the opportunities presented by the famous “hog lift.” In fact, the origin of the Council can be traced to the “hog lift,” where in 1959 the U.S. agricultural industry and U.S. government assisted Japan in recovering its hog industry following two typhoons which hit the Yamanashi prefecture, the most important livestock producing prefecture in Japan. At the time, Master Sergeant Richard Thomas was working in public relations with an important U.S. Air Force general in Tokyo.
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In the early 1970s, the U.S. Grains Council was moving forward with a transition from the traditional policy of addressing programs toward the production sector to one that would take advantage of the growing industrialization of agriculture and the rise of consumerism worldwide. This called for a vastly expanded program to supply management and technology for large-scale commercialization of beef production in Europe and Asia. Specifically, a reorientation of the programs that included shifting focus to increasing the consumption of beef and dairy products instead of only stimulating demand for poultry and eggs. Expansion, diversification and intelligence became key words in the Council's new policy for growth. Two unusual programs were launched by the Council in 1971. One was a trial shipment of identity-preserved U.S. corn grown in DeKalb County, Ill., to Scottish distillers who had been using only South African white corn. The trial, juxtaposing U.S. corn and South African corn, proved U.S. corn as a higher quality feed ingredient. The second program turned out to be one of the Council's major triumphs. In October of that year, USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and the Council began a Korea and Japan calf project recommended by Sen. Henry Bellmon of Oklahoma. Three hundred U.S. calves weighing from 250 to 500 pounds were flown to Korea and fed over a 12-month period and then exported to Japan.