Posted on February, 26, 2025 at 09:28 am
The US Grains Council (USGC) announced at its recent annual membership meeting that it will bring forward a vote to amend the organization’s name to the US Grains and Bioproducts Council (USGBC).
Council delegates will decide whether to move forward with the new name via a majority vote on Aug. 1 during its 65th Annual Board of Delegates Meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US.
“The reality is we are now not just limited to taking meetings within the global ethanol space, we are interfacing with players in the broader energy industry,” said Ryan LeGrand, president and chief executive officer of the USGC, during the membership meeting in mid-February in Austin, Texas, US. “Ethanol and related products have become part of our identity in practice, but not in name, and it is time to signal to these new audiences that we have something to offer.”
The Council has undergone this process before, when it changed its name from the original US Feed Grains Council to its current title in 1998.
“We are at an inflection point for our organization — one that requires our members’ consideration of an amended organizational name that carefully balances and maintains the 65 years of brand equity we’ve built but also is broad enough to reflect what the organization is about as a whole and where we are going in the future,” LeGrand said.
The change will require three separate changes to the organization’s bylaws, and if approved by delegates during the Council’s summer meeting, updates to the Council’s online presence and physical signage to match the amended name will be gradually implemented.
The USGC develops export markets for US barley, corn, sorghum and related products, including distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and ethanol. With full-time presence in 28 locations, the Council operates programs in more than 50 countries and the European Union.
Source: World Grain