DELAWARE, Ohio – Representatives from four Middle Eastern corn and distiller grains buyers will visit Ohio following their attendance at Export Exchange 2016 in Detroit, Michigan.

“We are excited to host this team in an effort to further develop and strengthen the relationships between Middle Eastern grain buyers and U.S. grain suppliers,” said Ohio Corn Checkoff Chair Keith Truckor, a farmer from Metamora. “It is our goal that meetings like this build confidence in our U.S. products and result in more sales of corn and distiller grains to Middle Eastern countries.”

The grain buyers visit will begin on Thursday at the POET ethanol plant in Fostoria, a state-of-the-art facility that consumes approximately 24 million bushels of corn to produce 68 million gallons of ethanol each year. They will then travel to and tour Gerald Grain Center in Archbold and Oak Shade Dairy in Lyons. To finish the day, the team will enjoy dinner on Truckor’s farm in Fulton County.

On Friday the team will see first-hand how U.S. farms are structured and operated by visiting Rurfenacht Beef Farms in Archbold and Drewes Farms in Custar.

Held every other year by the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), Export Exchange brings together international buyers with U.S. sellers of corn, sorghum, barley, distiller grains, corn gluten meal and corn gluten feed. This year’s Export Exchange conference was slated to be the largest on record with more than 215 buyers and end-users from more than 35 countries organized into 19 USGC trade teams.

Ohio Corn Checkoff is an active member of the USGC, a private, non-profit organization that works to develop exports in more than 50 countries from 10 worldwide offices and its Washington, D.C. headquarters.

More information about the trade team’s activities is available online at ohiocornandwheat.org. More information on Export Exchange 2016 is available at www.exportexchange.org or on social media using the hashtag #ExEx16.

About The Ohio Corn Checkoff

The Ohio Corn Checkoff was approved by an affirmative vote of Ohio’s corn producers. The voluntary, self-help program allows for the collection of a three-quarters-cent-per-bushel assessment by all first purchasers of the grain. Funds from the program can only be invested for research, market development and promotion, and education purposes. Visit www.ohiocorn.org for more information.

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