Julius Schaaf, U.S. Grains Council chairman, sees his 10 years of work with the Council in terms of people and their contributions.

“When I first got involved, Vic Miller [past USGC chairman] was one of the leaders who told me about the Council and what it was doing,” Schaaf said. “Then I got a chance to travel to Asia on a grain exporting mission with Mike Callahan, who was at the time USGC senior director of international operations.

“The whole time Mike kept talking about the potential in Asia for economic development, business development and the growth of the middle class. We met the overseas staff, including C.M. Lynn in Taiwan, Kim Rameker in Southeast Asia, and Todd Meyer in China.

“Seeing their enthusiasm really got my attention. This was something I wanted to dive right in and get to work.”

Schaaf sees the Council’s broad membership base as another strength: a diverse group of agribusiness, barley, sorghum, and corn checkoffs, producer associations, and farmer organizations, all with a common goal of pooling resources and talents to promote trade.

“That strength has produced multiple Council successes,” Schaaf said.

“Distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) were a huge success. When we started, no one could imagine what we would do with this huge volume, but DDGS was just a home run for the Council that went a long way to sustain ethanol producers through lean times.”

In sorghum, he points to recent achievements in China. “The Chinese have become a large importer of sorghum, that’s not restricted by the tariff rate quota. That market didn’t exist until the Council went to work on it. China imported its first sorghum from the U.S. just last year, and the growth potential is exciting.”

Schaaf is also excited about the formation of MAIZALL: The International Maize Alliance.

“We’ve always worked on biotechnology, trying to harmonize standards and increase acceptance,” Schaaf said. “We’re just back from our first MAIZALL trip to China and Korea, and the Chinese have already invited us back. This is giving us one more way to promote open and balanced trade.

“In my 10 years, I’ve watched the Council adjust priorities to go after new markets and new opportunities. They are always greasing the skids for exports.”