Representatives from five Mexican grain importers are visiting north-central Iowa this week to learn about corn production in the state.
Jerry Maier of Eagle Grove is a corn farmer and serves as a director of the Iowa Corn Growers Association. Maier says the group from Mexico will tour his farm later today and several others in the region.
“They’re going to be visiting with a couple farmers and they’re also going to be dealing with the ethanol plants and some local co-ops that sell down in that direction,” Maier says. “It’s just to give them a feel of how the corn is growing, how we treat the land and kind of a good will tour type of thing.”
Maier says the group will make stops in Webster, Wright, Hamilton and Hardin counties through Friday. In the 2015-16 marketing year, an estimated 1.3-million tons of U.S. corn was exported to Mexico, a 17-percent increase from the previous year and a 75-percent increase from 2010-11. Maier says Mexico remains an important customer when it comes to corn.
(Reporting by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)