2021 Year in Review

Council Promotes U.S.-Origin Corn Performance

image of three people on zoom call
U.S. Grains Council (USGC) Senior Director of Global Strategies Kurt Shultz and Dr. Alvaro Garcia of Dellait recently discussed the findings of a new study that examines the performance of U.S. corn against that of different origins with Feedstuffs 365.

In addition to the known advantages of buying U.S. corn – higher levels of available starch for animal digestibility; lower levels of mycotoxins; and larger kernel size – a study conducted this year confirmed higher levels of floury starch in U.S.-origin corn also has advantages for customers.

The study explored the performance of different origin corn as a source of starch or energy in livestock rations and whether the starch is available to the animal in the digestion process.

The initial findings of the study found that U.S. corn contains more floury starch compared to Brazilian and Argentinian crops, which makes it more available for digestion by livestock but can also make U.S. corn more fragile. In comparison, Brazilian and Argentinian corn contains less floury starch, which makes it more difficult for animals to digest in their feed. Additionally, U.S. corn was very low in mycotoxins.

Past studies have found that U.S. corn contains more starch than that of other origins, however, research has not shown whether that difference should affect the price per metric ton. The new study examined the performance of the different origins (United States, Argentinian and Brazilian) corn. Samples were obtained from warehouses of customers in Mexico, Colombia, Japan, Vietnam and Taiwan and the United States.

The research was inspired by another sector that heavily relies on corn, the industrial corn processing sector. The ability of U.S. corn to outperform crops of different origins has already been seen in the industrial setting when producing such products as corn starch or corn syrup.

To confirm the study’s findings, more research is underway to showcase the advantages of U.S. corn.