Julius Schaaf was elected chairman of the U.S. Grains Council during the council’s 53rd annual board of delegates meeting in Ottawa, Canada, and elected a new slate for its board of directors.
Schaaf is a fifth generation farmer from Randolph, Iowa, with more than 33 years of experience in production agriculture. He farms a corn, soybean rotation.
“The world is always changing. Markets are always changing. Today, competition is growing, and so are the opportunities. Our job is to figure out how to stay ahead of the changes,” Schaaf told U.S. Grains Council members. “We know that the global middle class is growing. We know where the growth in global food demand will be. We also understand that our competitors are just as eager to serve these markets as we are. Our goal is to regain market share for U.S. grains and expand that share into the future.”
Schaaf has been a member delegate of the council and a member of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board since 2003. He is a past chairman of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and has also served on the research and biotech committees for the Iowa Corn Promotion Board.
Ron Gray, a delegate from the Illinois Corn Marketing Board, will be the vice chairman for the 2013-2014 term. Allen Tiemann, Nebraska Corn Board, was elected as secretary of the U.S. Grains Council.
Others recently elected to the U.S. Grains Council board of directors are: Don Fast, past chairman, Montana Wheat and Barley Committee; Thomas Sleight, president, U.S. Grains Council; Dave Lyons, agribusiness sector director, Louis Dreyfus Commodities; Mark Seastrand, barley sector director, North Dakota Barley Council; Chip Councell, corn sector director, Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board; Bill Kubecka, sorghum sector director, United Sorghum Checkoff Program; Kim Falcon, state checkoff sector director, Montana Wheat & Barley Committee; Jim Tobin, at-large director, Monsanto; David Howell, at-large director, Indiana Corn Marketing Council; Charles Ring, at-large director, Corn Producers Association of Texas; and Deb Keller, at-large director, Iowa Corn Promotion Board.