The delegates of the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) elected Brent Boydston, industry affairs lead at Bayer Crop Science, as chairman of its Board of Directors at its 63rd Annual Board of Delegates Meeting last month in Calgary, Canada.
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Boydston sat down this week with the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) to discuss his chairman’s theme for the year and what he hopes to accomplish during his time in the position.
“Some of my first memories are riding on the tractor and in the combine with my dad and granddad when they would be planting and harvesting. And then, I followed that love for agriculture throughout my career, going to Kansas State, then to Washington D.C. I worked on ag policy there, then went to Colorado Farm Bureau. I currently work for Bayer Crop Science in St. Louis. So, all facets of the value chain of the grain industry, and then I still have a farm in Kansas.”
Boydston’s theme for his chairman year is “Growing the Future.” He discussed what that means to him during the interview.
“I’m not going to lie; I came up with my theme sitting on a planter. You can’t just plant a crop in the ground and then go walk away from it. You have prep work you have to do. You plant it, you tend it through the season, you harvest it, you put it in the bins and you protect the grain until you ultimately send it to whoever you sell it to. That is the exact same as what the U.S. Grains Council does. We go into places, into frontier markets, develop those relationships, develop those processes that are needed to help facilitate getting those U.S. corn, barley, and sorghum products into those emerging markets and those new markets.”
Over the next year, Boydston said he looks forward to continuing the partnerships the Council has created in North and East Africa.
“When you look at the population of Africa and what it’s projected to do over the next 10 to 15 years, it’s going to be increasing exponentially. And we already have a foothold with the Council in Morocco, Tanzania, Kenya and Tunisia.”
About The U.S. Grains Council
The U.S. Grains Council develops export markets for U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and ethanol. With full-time presence in 28 locations, the Council operates programs in more than 50 countries and the European Union. The Council believes exports are vital to global economic development and to U.S. agriculture’s profitability. Detailed information about the Council and its programs is online at www.grains.org.