Corn Is Not Corn Is Not Corn (Especially When Its Value Has Been Enhanced)

When Gertrude Stein wrote a "rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" in 1913, she could just as easily have been talking about corn.

Corn has always been a fungible product – any bushel can be replaced by any other.

But not in today’s marketplace or, for that matter, the marketplace of the future, according to the U.S. Grains Council. More customers are demanding corn with specific properties, traits and quality – Value Enhanced Corn (VEC).

"We are identifying market opportunities to find higher premium returns for the farmers," said Kenneth Hobbie, president and CEO of the U.S. Grains Council. To help identify market opportunities and to educate foreign buyers, Hobbie’s organization commissioned a report on VEC in the United States.

VEC is any corn marketed to target consumer or end user requirements, according to Steven L. Hofing of Agricultural Education & Consulting, Illinois, who managed the study.

The end user can and often does require a combination of both kinds of traits, such as white corn with low stress cracks.

Additional per-bushel premiums paid for VEC in 1998 ranged from 10 to 20 cents for nutritionally dense varieties, 20 to 30 cents for high oil types and 25 to 30 cents for waxy products, according to the report. In years of short supply caused by weather or disease problems, premiums can increase dramatically as the marketing year progresses.

A key component in VEC is the preservation of the product’s identity – knowing its pedigree and where it has been.

A broad variety of characteristics can be tailored to meet the specific needs of different end users throughout the world.

For example, wet millers prefer lower temperature drying, higher levels of starch and moderate oil content. The industry operates more efficiently when it has a whole corn kernel to process and kernels uniform in starch content.

Dry millers prefer corn varieties with greater amount of hard vitreous endosperm, low-temperature drying, and larger, uniform kernel size.

Feed manufacturers are concerned about protein levels, amino acids, oil content, and fatty acids.

High-oil corn has caught on in certain regions of the world because it is a replacement for other fats in the feed ration (usually animal fats). Some Middle East countries prefer not to use animal fats due to religious and cultural concerns about pork products in the fats.

Last year, 40 percent of the contracted acreage of high-oil corn went into the export market. Demand in the international market for high-oil corn has exceeded supply. The United States is the only country currently able to produce and export high-oil corn varieties.

The ability to produce corn with specific amino acids and protein profiles offers the potential for improved feeding rations at lower costs for livestock and poultry feeders.

High-available-phosphorus corn is especially desirable in Asia where high population and limited available land make the environmental issues associated with animal wastes very sensitive. The corn will help alleviate phosphorus runoff in water supplies and lessen environmental pressures faced by livestock producers in those countries.

Marketing VEC marks a major break from the past. The U.S. grain production, marketing, merchandising and export system historically has focused on volume and cost considerations to move as much grain as possible. Corn from different farms is loaded together in the rail cars, hoppers, barges and silos.

In order to maintain their value, though, VEC products must kept segregated. Depending on the particular crop, farmers and elevators need additional grain bins for storage, upgraded combines for gentler harvesting and upgraded drying equipment. Some products may be transported in containers instead of bulk.

Widespread acceptance of specialty grains depends on the effectiveness of handling and transportation systems in delivering the crops to end users in consistent volumes, at consistent levels of quality and with consistent end-use characteristics, at competitive prices.

In 1998, farmers planted between 3 and 3.5 million acres of VEC. This year, between 3.6 and 4 million acres – 5 percent of the total harvested acreage – will be dedicated to VEC.

The portion of producers growing some type of VEC continues to rise; it reached 12 percent in 1998.

This June, the Council hosted a VEC conference in Zacatecas, Mexico. It featured presentations, trial results, samples and exhibited several value-enhanced grains.

Similar conferences are scheduled throughout Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.

The Council also has conducted comparative wet milling trials in Japan as well as high-oil corn poultry feeding trials in Mexico, Egypt, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Colombia.

In August, the Grains Council conducted a value-enhanced grains seminar geared toward U.S. exporters, primarily grain elevators, smaller cooperatives and groups of farmers who do not have extensive experience in international trade.

The Council’s 1998/99 VEC report covers growing conditions, overall yields and export data; testing technologies, methodology and results; sample tests; chapters on specific VEC varieties and an extensive section of data and references.

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For more information, call the U.S. Grain Council at (202) 789-0789.

Typical Value-Enhanced Corn Products

Product	Uses

Blue corn	Used in alkaline cooking processes for making masa, tortilla chips and snack foods.

Hard endosperm/ food grade	Higher yield of large grits in dry milling. Used in alkaline cooking processes for making masa, tortilla chips and snack foods.

High amylose	Grown exclusively for wet milling. Starch used in textiles, gum candies, biodegradable packaging materials and adhesives for manufacturing corrugated cardboard. Potential for use in production of other biodegradable plastic products.

High lysine/opaque	Source of high-quality protein in the diets of non-ruminants.Can improve the nutrition of human populations with diets high in corn. Grown to a limited extent as a feed for poultry, swine, dairy cattle and other livestock production needs.

High oil	Replaces animal fat in livestock rations. Used in swine, dairy and poultry feed rations as an energy source and to decrease feed dust. May have application in wet milling when oil prices are high

High starch	Improves wet milling plant economics.

Product	Uses

Low stress cracks	Fewer stress cracks make the kernel less susceptible to mechanical damage during handling and will increase processing quality. A low level of stress cracks indicates a low level of heat damage and therefore better starch recovery in wet milling. Improved storability due to low breakage, less small pieces, improved aeration, and less opportunity for fungal growth

Nutritionally dense (high protein)	Primarily feed, with some food applications.

Organic	Food uses.

Post Harvest Pesticide Free	Feed use.

Waxy	Clarity and texture of starch make it a desired product. Uses include stabilizers and thickeners for food products, particularly those that undergo large temperature changes in processing and preparation. Also used as an emulsifier for salad dressing. Other uses include remoistening adhesives in the manufacture of gummed tape, in adhesives, and in the paper industry.

White	Dry milling, alkaline processing for food use. Limited wet milling for food-grade starch and paper uses.