U.S. Corn and Soy Key to Success of Red Meat Exports, Spronk Says

Thousands of growers gathered in Houston, Texas, for Commodity Classic last week. U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Chair Randy Spronk, a pork and grain producer from Edgerton, Minn., joined other USMEF leaders to thank corn and soybean producers for their support.
 
U.S.-produced corn and soy are key to the success of beef, pork and lamb exports, and are an important part of the sustainability story that USMEF shares with consumers around the globe, Spornk said.

"You look at the lifecycle analysis of red meats and the feed grains, our feed is a critically important part of that. We can't say we're a sustainable product without understanding what's happening on the farm as we produce our grain and soybeans.  They're critical to us," he explained.

In addition, the Soybean and Corn Checkoffs provide financial support for USMEF’s global marketing efforts that move grains and oilseeds through feed consumption, USMEF noted in a release. In 2023, U.S. red meat exports accounted for the consumption of nearly 513 million bushels of corn valued at more than $3 billion and 97 million bushels of soybeans with a value of $1.4 billion.

"We talk about how we differentiate our product in the international market. I think the story that we have about how we raise our soybeans, how we raise our corn, how we process the feed, the 
efficiencies, that's a story that differentiates us from other export countries versus the EU. When I graduated in '81, 100-bushel corn was the max yield. You look at it today, here, it's two 
and a half times. There is no greater efficiency and sustainability story than that," Spronk said.