Corn Aims for 10-50% of Feedstock Market

April 20, 2000

Research is underway to increase the price per bushel of corn by at least 50 cents per year by making renewable inputs serve as the feedstock for 10% of the chemical building blocks market by 2020 and 50% by 2050. The program is focused on funding projects through the checkoff program that will use plants instead of petroleum for chemical building blocks.

"Picture this research as a conversion of corn and other renewable inputs to chemical building blocks that would be used to produce a wide range of everyday consumer goods such as plastics, paints, carpet fibers, adhesives, antifreeze and personal care products," said Vic Miller, Oelwein, IA, a member of the National Corn Growers Association customer and business development action team.

Since 1997, NCGA, in cooperation with the Department of Energy, has been part of a coalition of agricultural, forestry and chemical industry experts working to create plant-based renewable products that would replace petroleum-based products as fossil fuel supplies decline.

"The program is focused solely on funding projects that will use plants instead of petroleum for chemical building blocks, said Miller. The program does not fund ethanol, which is a separate research and policy program of NCGA. But Miller said using plants for industrial feedstocks has the potential to be "an extremely significant market for corn."

Gaining 10% of the market, he noted, would represent a five-fold increase from today’s market share of the chemical building blocks. "If plants were the feedstock for 10% of this market, farm income would increase by more than $5 billion, or 50 cents per bushel per year, greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced, recycling opportunities would be increased and, most importantly, our dependence on foreign oil would decrease."