New Study Reveals Powerful Economic Impact of Corn Refining Industry

Feb 17, 2021

A new study reveals the immense economic impact of the corn refining industry, featuring a $47 billion economic output in 2020, working to strengthen rural America while producing a wide variety of value-added products and materials. The report details the industry’s contributions to the U.S. economy in terms of sales, jobs, salaries, purchases, and taxes.

The economic power of the corn wet-milling industry results in:

$3.328 billion in state and federal taxes
167,786 total jobs
$10.013 billion in total wages
$47 billion in total economic output

Corn is nature’s renewable building block and can be found in most products that comprise our everyday lives—shampoo, wallpaper, laundry detergent, yogurt, pharmaceuticals, packaging, pasta, and more. Annually, 10-15% of American corn farmers’ crops are refined in corn wet-milling facilities, where our nation’s cornerstone crop is converted into a valuable resource utilized all day, every day. For years, corn-related innovations in chemistry and technology have made food taste better, cosmetics last longer, pharmaceuticals easier to swallow and plastics environmentally friendly. Now, corn products are used in 3-D printing inks and studied by nanotechnology scientists as a method for delivering cancer treatments. From America’s corn fields to corn refining plants, new technology allows us to preserve resources for future generations.

“This report underscores the essential role America’s corn refiners play in our nation’s agricultural and economic value chain,” said John Bode, President & CEO of the Corn Refiners Association. “While our members represent some of the biggest names in value-added agriculture, they remain deeply rooted in rural America, where they serve as pillars of economic growth. They work to foster technological innovation, expand commercial opportunities, advance free trade, build the bioeconomy, and feed a hungry world.”

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.