South Dakota Corn Growers Association (SDCGA)
Board Members
Darrin Ihnen - District 2
Darrin Ihnen lives northeast of Hurley, South Dakota in Turner County where he and his father grow corn and soybeans. Darrin also has a stockcow and hog finishing operation. Darrin is a past president of the SDCGA board of directors and has served on the SDCGA board since 1999. In addition, Darrin was elected to the South Dakota Corn Utilization (SDCUC) board in 2007.
Darrin started farming in high school with an FFA project and continued to farm with his dad as the years progressed. Darrin also attended South Dakota State University, studying Ag Business. According to Darrin he chose the farming profession because, "when you grow up in a farming family, it gets in your blood and I have continued to enjoy it. It is also a great place to raise a family."
Darrin and his wife Becky have four children: Kelsey, Kayla, Kilee and Jacob. In Darrin's spare time he enjoys hunting, fishing, playing basketball, and riding motorcycles.
In addition to serving in the SDCGA and SDCUC, Darrin is board chairman of Poet Biorefining of Chancellor, a 40 million gallon ethanol plant which expanding to 100 million gallons. Darrin is also on the board of directors for the NCGA Corn Board.
According to Darrin, corn producers today face many challenges, but the most important issue is, "trying to add value to our corn whether it be by processing it into ethanol or feeding it to livestock--any process which corn growers can move up the processing chain thereby capturing more profit."