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Tennessee farmers vote for corn checkoff

Tennessee farmers vote for corn checkoff

One cent per bushel will support research, education and other initiatives

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Tennessee corn farmers have voted in favor of developing a corn checkoff program.

Of 474 votes cast on Nov. 28 and 29, 303 supported the idea of redirecting one cent per bushel of corn to research, education, market development and other items designed to increase production, consumption and use of Tennessee corn products.

Jai Templeton, Tennessee’s ag commissioner, authorized the referendum at the request of the Tennessee Corn Growers Association.

“We always welcome input from our partners and industry leaders,” Templeton said in a statement yesterday. “Tennessee farmers and landowners should have a say in determining the future of their business. We’re proud that they were given the opportunity to do so.”

Corn growers in the state produced an average yield of 171 bushels per acre in 2017, the USDA says. So, each acre of corn would have contributed US$1.71 to the checkoff initiative.

Developing a corn checkoff program is good news for corn growers, said Lee Maddox, director of communications with the Tennessee Farm Bureau.

“Tennessee hasn’t had a corn checkoff before, so this represents the start of something new,” he told Farms.com. “That money will be used to help expand the presence of Tennessee corn and its producers, whether that’s with international trade or domestically. Other states have successful corn checkoff programs, so it’s exciting that producers here will too.”

The next step in the process is developing a state corn promotion board.

The nine-member group will consist of three people each from the Tennessee Corn Growers Association, the Tennessee Farm Bureau and the Tennessee Farmers Cooperative, Maddox said.

The board is scheduled to begin collecting the checkoff dollars on Mar. 1, and producers who don’t want to participate can request a refund within 90 days of sale.


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