The World of Corn is often perceived as a landscape of grain bins, barges, augers and elevators. A place that media and policy-makers too often define with pie charts, graphs and columns of figures. But this is not the whole World of Corn. Our world is also filled with the unique faces and interesting stories of people. These are the people who fill the grain bins, pilot the barges, run the People augers and feed the world.

These are the people who open markets for the more than 9 billion bushels of corn produced by U.S. growers in 2002. These are the people who will push ethanol production to use more than 900 million bushels of corn this year, nearly 9 percent of our total supply. These are the people who develop new products that help corn growers maintain their leadership in the world market, as they account for nearly 40 percent of the world’s production. These people are the heroes of our story because they brave the weather, survive uncertain markets, manage the crops and create the basic unit of value that fuels a worldwide market.

The World of Corn 2003 is dedicated to all the individuals who help make our world go round, and we would like to introduce you to six of them. Their stories reflect a diversity of backgrounds but share a common passion for corn and its potential. All play vital roles in the six core corn and its potential. All play vital roles in the six core theaters of action where the National Corn Growers Association is heavily involved.