Premium Grains Require More Work

Premium crops, everything outside of standard yellow corn and soybeans, continue to offer farmers value added in today's market. These include white corn, non-GMO, identity-preserved, hybrid-specific, and organic varieties. They're called premium because growers can command higher prices than the commodity versions. Some of these crops require more management, but not all. Kelsey Graber says white food gray corn, for example, isn't hard. Some of these crops require more management, but not all. Kelsey Graber is with Clarkson Grain in Cerro Gordo, Illinois, and she says white food gray corn, for example, isn't necessarily harder to grow. It simply fills the specialty market, willing to pay more for

it.

“Definitely, yeah, that's one of the lower hanging fruit, and easier, easiest to enter. Reaching out to them, there are limits to how much they'll buy, but that's a great way to enter. And I know that they work with the Andersons in Mansfield, Illinois, but then we also work with organics into them as well, so that's something to consider as well.”

Graber says those premiums can make a real difference in a row crop producer's income, but they come with added management.

“I think just understanding the premiums, and also something is a lot of these are contracted grower programs.”

Crops often require tighter segregation, more documentation, and closer communication with buyers, all of which add time and cost, even when the crop itself is not harder to grow.