Engaging with Government Partners to Find New Uses for Corn

National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) staff and grower leaders will travel to Washington, D.C. next week for meetings on new uses for corn. Meetings are scheduled with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) at their Beltsville, Maryland facility where staff will discuss projects related to research corn utilization for biobased products and chemicals, including a new project at the Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania facility.

Updates will also be provided on the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research’s project on amylose inclusion complexes, which was a winner of Consider Corn Challenge II. Their project plans to use emulsifiers, polymer films and coatings made from corn starch and vegetable oil rather than petroleum, which could open the door to new products with enhanced performance and lower environmental footprints. Other visits will include meetings with the Department of Energy (DOE) and USDA Rural Development. 

Tuesday’s meetings will focus on sharing information on corn as an industrial feedstock and the opportunities for biobased products and chemicals to spur economic development with legislators on Capitol Hill. “Corn is a sustainable, abundant and affordable industrial feedstock that has myriad uses,” said Director of Market Development Sarah McKay. “We look forward to meeting with agencies and legislators to highlight the fact that U.S. corn is an extremely flexible feedstock.”

You can learn more about NCGA’s efforts on new uses at https://www.ncga.com/topics/new-uses.