VICTORIA, Ill. — Dave Rylander, a farmer and former product design engineer for John Deere, was elected president of the Illinois Corn Growers Association (ICGA) at their reorganizational meeting, held Nov. 21. The Knox County, Illinois producer, who returned fulltime to his fifth-generation family farm in 2015 following a 25-year career with Deere in Moline, has served on the ICGA board since November 2016, most recently as vice president. He will continue his role as at-large director for the duration of his term as president, representing all corn farmer members in Illinois. 

Contacted by Farm World, Rylander said he plans to focus on profitability for corn farmers during 2024. He also will be a big proponent for passage of the Next Generation Fuels Act (NGFA), which supports the use of high-octane, low-carbon fuels such as corn ethanol in optimized engines.

“One of the things we’ve been focused on for several years is the NGFA. Illinois Rep. (Eric) Sorenson (D-Ill.) is now pushing this in Congress, and (retired) Sen. (Cheri) Bustos also fought to help us get this passed. That will do a lot for corn profitability if passed, and it will also do good things to meet the requirements for fuel economy for vehicles,” said Rylander, who designed corn planters during his time at Deere, including the ExactEmerge row unit planter. 

“Everything that is on the road today is made to run on E10 or straight gasoline. You get diminished mileage when you run E85. Your mileage would be much greater if your engine is made to operate using E85” as the NGFA calls for, Rylander added. 

Another area of concentration for Rylander during his time as ICGA president is advocating the need for continued appropriations for lock and dam improvements on the upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers. 

“Initial construction on Lock #25 started back in August, and we want to make sure the need for that stays in front of our friends in Congress, because there are five more locks that need to be updated as well,” he said. “This provides us a very distinct marketing advantage as long as we keep the Mississippi River lock system in good shape. Locks on the Illinois River are being updated as well.” 

Ultimately, however, corn profitability will remain the number one issue the new ICGA leader will face in 2024. Rylander admits the challenge will be a tough one, with current corn prices for 2024 and 2025 expected to average only around $5.10 per bushel. 

However, opportunities will still exist for corn farmers to turn a profit in fiscal year 2024 by examining all costs associated with its production including post-harvest marketing, according to Rylander. “We sell basically all of our corn to the local ethanol plant as we are 12 miles from the Big River ethanol processing facility in Galva. We had taken corn in the past to Peoria to take it down the river, but the advantage to doing that really wasn’t that great recently (due in part to higher river transportation costs).”

Rylander said he went into leadership roles with the ICGA in 2016 following his retirement from Deere for a simple reason: to better the agricultural industry within the state and beyond.

“The big thing is to try to improve the industry,” he said. “I have a pretty extensive technical background, so some of the things we talk to, especially with our friends in the EPA, I can probably be a little bit more convincing and authoritative about what I’m saying. My engineering degree allows me a little more perspective, and the thing they told me in my engineering education was ‘we’re not going to teach you everything you need to know, but what we are going to teach you is how to find what you need to know.’” 

Other leaders elected:

In addition to Rylander’s election as ICGA president, the following people were elected to leadership positions during the association’s annual meeting in Bloomington; Vice President Garrett Hawkins of Waterloo, Treasurer Mike Shane of Peoria, and Secretary Michael Houston of Golden. 

The ICGA Exports Committee will be led by Chairman Don Guinnip of Marshall and Vice Chairman Chris Gould of Maple Park. Elected to lead the Industrial Committee were Kate Danner of Aledo and Vice Chairman Shane Gray of Waverly. Grassroots Committee leadership for the coming year are Chairman Mark Bunselmeyer of Maroa and Vice Chairman Sarah Hastings of Sidney.

In addition, five farmers were re-elected and will continue in their positions as directors. They are Ellen Rahn of Mount Carroll, Dan Parker of Dwight, Mike Shane of Peoria, Keith Sanders of Vandalia, and Garrett Hawkins of Waterloo. Reelected At-Large Directors include Kate Danner of Aledo and Rylander.