ILLINOIS CORN MARKETING BOARD ELECTS OFFICERS

Tricia Braid

Aug 30, 2016  |  Today's News |  ICMB

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.—Jim Raben, a farmer from Ridgway, Illinois, was recently elected by his peers to serve as Chairman of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board for the 2016-17 term.

Raben, a Gallatin County farmer, has served on the Board for six years. As Chairman, Raben represents the organization as a whole and continues his obligations to corn farmers in District 15, covering Randolph, Perry, Jackson, Franklin, Hamilton, White, Gallatin, Saline, Williamson, Union, Johnson, Pope, Hardin, Alexander, Pulaski, and Massac Counties.

Also elected to officer positions were Paul Jeschke (Mazon) as Vice-Chairman, Roger Sy (Newman) as Secretary, and Don Duvall (Carmi) as Treasurer.

Five districts held elections earlier this summer. In each of those elections, the incumbent candidate retained the seat, including the seat newly-elected Chairman Raben holds for District 15. The district elections included Tom Mueller in District 3, representing Henderson, Henry, Knox, Mercer, Rock Island, and Warren Counties. For District 6, Dirk Rice was re-elected to represent Champaign, Ford, Iroquois, and Vermillion Counties. Dan Cole was re-elected to represent Adams, Brown, Hancock, Pike, Schuyler and McDonough Counties in District 9. And Roger Sy retained the District 12 seat to represent Clark, Coles, Crawford, Douglas, Edgar, Jasper and Cumberland Counties.

The Illinois Corn Marketing Board was established in 1982 to manage the voluntary checkoff investment that corn farmers in the state agreed to implement that year. The farmers that make up ICMB are elected by their peers to serve unpaid, three year terms. The ICMB farmer leaders are tasked with developing and maintaining markets for corn which is Illinois' highest valued agricultural commodity. Find out more about ICMB at www.ilcorn.org and the family farmers who contribute to the checkoff at www.watchusgrow.org/corn.

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