WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio – Jed Bower, a fifth-generation corn and soybean farmer from Washington Court House, began his term as president of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) on Oct. 1.

Bower brings extensive advocacy and leadership experience to the role. He has served the last year as the vice president of the organization’s board while contributing as a member to several key NCGA committees, including the finance committee. Bower is also a board member for the Ohio Corn Marketing Program and a former president of the Ohio Corn & Wheat Growers Association. Now, he’s at the helm of the NCGA.

“I don’t think it’s completely sunk in yet,” Bower said. “Even being the first vice president the past year, it’s been humbling. When we go into meetings we don’t think about that, though. We think about corn, where is corn and where does corn need to be and have this conversation and explain to people why it’s so important to promote corn.”

Bower, who farms with his wife Emily and children, Ethan and Emma, begins his presidency as corn growers face the largest three-year decline in net cash receipts in history because of declining crop farm profitability associated with lower prices and elevated input costs. This challenging rural economy, he said, will be his top priority in the year ahead.

“It’s been a lot of years fighting for corn farmers in Ohio and now we’re looking forward to fight for corn farmers across the nation,” he said. “I think the farm economy overall is huge and we’re going to dive into that. We have to make farming profitable. Obviously, we’ve heard a lot of key words about sustainability and things like that the past few years, but farmers don’t have that opportunity if they’re not profitable so I think that’s going to be the number one thing for me as I dive into this. We need to keep farmers profitable and there’s a lot of ways to do this.”

Bower said E15 is a first step. An economic study released Sept. 15 by the NCGA and the Renewable Fuels Association shows that expanding year-round, nationwide consumer access to fuels with a 15 percent ethanol blend would provide a boon to the American economy, benefiting farmers, communities and consumers alike.

The study comes as Congress considers the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2025, which would remove a provision in the Clean Air Act that restricts the summertime sales of fuel with 15 percent ethanol blends, often referred to as E15.

“The one thing we have to get across the threshold right now is the E15,” Bower said. “That’s easy to do, it doesn’t cost taxpayers anything. If anything, it saves them at the pump. I think that’s a great way to generate some corn grind and put a little bit of money back in the farmers’ pockets.

“Next, we need new markets to help alleviate the economic crisis that is threatening the survival of countless family farms across the country. That’s why we will continue to encourage Congress to act immediately to pass legislation that expands consumer access to higher blends of ethanol year-round and urge the Trump administration to move quickly to develop new foreign markets.

“And there’s more. We’re going to look at input costs, we’re going to look at new ways to grind corn and find new uses for corn. It’s kind of a shame right now as we’re literally at record levels of exporting corn and we’re not seeing it at the market, so I think we need to continue that push and continue these conversations with the administration and always look for new ways to export corn in any form, anywhere in the world, and then of course new ways to use corn right here at home.”

According to the NCGA, the value of corn in the U.S. is significant, with corn farming generating an estimated $123 billion in total economic output in 2024. Corn farming contributed $7.3 billion in tax revenues at federal, state and local levels.

“The numbers also show we’re representing over a half million corn farmers,” Bower said. “That’s very humbling. Again, my goal is just to promote corn and make the Ohio corn farmer and the national corn farmers profitable again and drive that corn demand. Yeah, when you sit back and think about the numbers it gets a little overwhelming.”

Founded in 1957, NCGA represented more than 36,000 dues-paying corn growers in 48 states, and the interests of more than 500,000 farmers who contribute through corn checkoff programs in their states. NCGA and its affiliated associations in 27 states work together to help protect and advance corn growers’ interests.

The NCGA board chooses a member from the governing body to serve as president each year. The term begins on Oct. 1, the start of NCGA’s fiscal year.