5-26 FB Is Corn a Grain

Is corn a grain in Idaho? That’s an odd question with an answer that is equally odd.

 I have various resources that are really in the know. I have recently been talking about planting corn because of the upside potential, what with the earthquake in Japan, problems with corn in Mexico, etc. But I just wanted to check in with Travis Jones who is the executive director of the Idaho grain producers Association. I called him up and ask him if he would recommend corn for farmers. His answer: “We don’t represent corn. No one in Idaho does yet. But if I were to talk about that then the answer is yes. There is still a lot of upside in the corn industry so growers considering the future relative to corn should think about what they can and cannot do. Corn is a relatively new crop to the state of Idaho and most of the corn grown here goes directly to the feedlots or to the dairy industry. Farmers have yet to view it as a food commodity for the purposes that we know it to be in the Midwest. So in that sense we have yet to meet critical mass I guess you would say to be represented politically or by any kind of policy group yet.