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U.S. Grains Council members heard at the 49th Annual Board of Delegates Meeting in San Diego, CA, the dollar value of the Council’s export market development initiatives to U.S. farmers and the U.S. economy.

The conclusion is “remarkable,” according to USGC Treasurer Wendell Shauman.

“For every dollar this organization receives from our members and USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), U.S. farmers, like myself, get a little more than $50 back to support our families and provide food for a growing population,” said Shauman, a corn and soybean grower in Kirkwood, IL.

“Where else can you invest a buck and get $50 back?

"It is almost hard to believe and that is why we didn’t conduct the study ourselves.”

He said, in realizing that such a review conducted internally could present an upward bias, the Council contracted Informa Economics LLC to construct an estimation procedure for the study in order to eliminate the potential bias and reduce the margin of error on the review.

This is the Council’s third performance review conducted by Informa. The 2009 study concluded the impact of the Council’s market development efforts on the U.S. grains industry is worth $915.7 million to U.S. farmers, up from $659 million in the 2008 study, which measured the 2007 calendar year.

The analysis showed the total return on investment in market development is $50.30 annually for each dollar invested.

USGC Chairman Rick Fruth said Council members provide only a minority of the investment; however, 100 percent of the returns accrue to producers.

“We wanted to give our producer members a clear picture as to how their state checkoff dollars apportioned to the Council have a significant return.

"Producers are fortunate that their checkoffs are investing in the Council and increasing demand for U.S. grains, which means a greater bottom line annually.

"It is clear the organization creates an immense value for U.S. agriculture.”

The return on investment for Council members also comes from FAS through the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) program. Shauman said MAP and FMD are examples of government programs that work.

“This is truly an efficient use of money with a huge bang,” he said. Shauman also said the Informa study only calculates the financial return for the 2008 calendar year.

“This does not take into account the past 50 years. If it did, we would be talking about billions of dollars, not millions,” he said.

“For example, we have been in Japan for a long, long time, but this study does not calculate the tremendous success we have had in that market over the years.

"It does not take into account the markets in Africa, the Middle East and others that absorbed the shock of losing Russia and Europe as top customers in the 1980s.

"Market development saves the day when things go astray.

"We must continue developing markets and enabling trade if we want to improve lives here and abroad.”

For more information, call 202-789-0789.

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