Iowa Corn Welcomes New Class of Collegiate Advisory Team Members

Oct 19, 2026

Iowa Corn is proud to announce the students selected to participate in the 2026-2027 school year’s Collegiate Advisory Team (CAT) program, which focuses on increasing college students’ understanding of the corn industry. During the one-year program, students will visit the Capitol, tour industry leaders’ farms and expand their network and knowledge outside of the classroom.

“Iowa Corn is dedicated to growing the next generation of ag leaders and farmers to best serve Iowa’s agriculture industry,” said Iowa Corn Promotion Board President Paul Gieselman, a farmer from Morning Sun, Iowa. “Getting engaged in agriculture and networking with fellow students, in addition to Iowa corn farmers, is invaluable. Through the Collegiate Advisory Team, students build essential leadership skills while exploring the wide variety of career opportunities across corn and agriculture, giving them the hands-on experience needed to excel in their future careers.”

Collegiate Advisory Team Peer Mentors:

Lillian Bru, Garwin, IA – Iowa State University

Davis McGrew, Mills County, IA – Iowa State University

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Video: How American Farmers Harvest 1.15 Billion Pounds of Sunflowers

Across the open plains of North Dakota and South Dakota, sunflower fields turn the American landscape into a sea of gold. In this farming documentary, we go inside modern sunflower farming to see how farmers plant, grow, harvest, clean, dry, process, and transform sunflower seeds into valuable products used every day.

In 2024, American farmers harvested about 1.15 billion pounds of sunflowers. This video follows the full journey from warm spring planting to combine harvesting, seed cleaning, storage, oil extraction, refining, roasting, packaging, and animal feed production.

You will see how sunflower seeds are processed into cooking oil, roasted snacks, bakery ingredients, birdseed, livestock feed, and useful byproducts. From golden fields to modern processing plants, this is the story of how a beautiful flower becomes one of America’s important oilseed crops.

Watch until the end to discover how sunflower farming connects farmers, machines, factories, food production, and sustainable agriculture.