LINCOLN ‹ Nebraska's beef industry is still number one as far as the Nebraska Corn Board is concerned, said Don Hutchens executive director of the Nebraska Corn Board.
"The Nebraska beef industry is the number one consumer of corn and corn co-products like distillers grains. While the ethanol industry is growing and today uses more corn, one-third of that corn utilized in the production of ethanol comes back in the form of distillers grains," he said. "When you consider the raw corn, silage and distillers grains that beef cattle consume, you quickly realize how important corn and beef producers are to each other." To help spread the positive news about corn co-products, the Nebraska Corn Board has sponsored, along with the University of Nebraska, a handbook for the beef industry titled "Utilization of Corn Co-Products in the Beef Industry" that is in its second edition.
"There is probably no other state that has as much knowledge and actual experience in feeding distillers grains as Nebraska," said Dennis Gengenbach, chairman of the Corn Board's Research Committee. "The Corn Board has allocated nearly $200,000 this year alone in distillers grains research." The board also applied for a federal grant last year to work with National Ag Statistics to survey 12 states to better understand producers knowledge and utilization of distillers grains.
Nebraska is the third-largest corn producing state in the nation and the second-largest ethanol producer. The state is also the second or third largest beef cattle state depending on the year. Combined, this makes the synergy between the commodities so dynamic.
"There is no state in the nation or any place in the world that is better situated to take advantage of the corn to ethanol to distillers grains to beef opportunity than Nebraska," Hutchens said.
He explained that is why the Nebraska Corn Board invests three times more corn checkoff dollars promoting Nebraska red meat exports than bulk corn exports.
"Why export corn when you can add value to it not only once but multiple times, and then ship the value added products to other states and other countries? That is the best economic development and job creation tool rural communities can have," he said.
According to Stan Boehr, chairman of the Corn Board's Government Affairs Committee, there is also tremendous opportunity for the two commodity organizations to work together on federal policy issues. The Nebraska Corn Board, while not allowed to use checkoff dollars to influence state legislation, can be involved in federal legislation.
"For two years now we have traveled to Washington, D.C., together with representatives of the Nebraska Cattlemen to lobby for issues we mutually agree on," Boehr said. "Getting more beef back into the world market has been our number one focus, along with animal welfare and environmental issues. By working together, we can pack a much more powerful punch." "Whether it is research, market development, education and information sharing, working to influence Congress and finding reasons to support one another, it is really what our producers expect of us in Nebraska," concluded Hutchens. "Sure we have differences, but at the end of the day, we truly need each other to be successful."
