Iowa Corn: The Brand

In 2012, the drum beat from the corn industry's major players was this:

"It's just like regular sugar.  The body can't tell the difference between High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and the sugars found in a piece of fruit."

The campaign was led by the National Corn Growers Association and the handful of major industry players who count "corn sugar" as a source of revenue.  And as a result of the product's economic efficiency and reassurance from scientists at the NCGA, food processors continued to use HFCS as the sweetener of choice.

Today, health professionals are increasingly pointing out that the average American's diet contains far too much sugar.  For example, the Wall Street Journal asked a panel of experts what one dietary change the average American should make.

In the panel of 17 experts, three directly indicated that a cut back in sugar and sweeteners was their number one tip.  12 panel members pointed to reducing portion size and increasing the intake of "real food" (fruits and vegetables among others) while decreasing intake of high calorie, nutrient sparse food and drink such as sodas, candies, and other "pleasure foods."  Combined, 15 of the 17 experts appear to discourage the status quo of sugar intake.

If sugar, generally speaking, makes up too much of a person's diet, the distinction between "corn sugar" and "regular sugar" is irrelevant.  Assuming that's true, the NCGA wasted a lot of advertising dollars running a furious campaign to attempt to salvage the industry image and rebrand high fructose corn syrup as the mild mannered "corn sugar."

Feed The World

Today, the refrain from the farm community is "we need to feed the world."  Assuming the Corn Belt's self appointed obligation is real, how does an industry remain relevant when it's primary product is discovered to be ineffective in creating healthy food?

A gracious billboard between Ankeny and Des Moines, Iowa proclaims, "Thank you, Iowa. Our healthy food starts here."  In the background a John Deere tractor rolled through a picture-esque corn field.  A familiar logo rang out from the top right corner:  the McDonald's arches.

McDonald's assertion is true, Iowa corn finds its way into the meat, fries, buns, and especially soft drinks via "corn sugar."  But McDonald's isn't exactly renowned for a being a part of a healthy, nutritious diet, much to its chagrin.

Is the NCGA aware of who is attaching itself to the corn Iowa corn brand name?  Is the group proud to link up arm and arm with the poster child for obesity?

Considering the commercial representation of the how food arrives at the grocer/restaurant and what role corn plays in the production of food, the longer farmers rely on corn and its byproducts, the more difficult it will be to take them seriously in decades to come.  The romantic picture of a farmer in the country-side growing food edible off the stem and husbanding their animals has faded into row after row of corn-on-corn.