Cool Corn Competition – A look behind NCGA’s 6 Consider Corn Challenge III winners

NCGA’s Consider Corn Challenge III

As announced at the ABLC recently, the National Corn Growers Association’s Consider Corn Challenge III six winners were chosen because their technologies can improve a product or process, scale-up and produce biobased materials from field corn.

“We know we produce an affordable, abundant and sustainable crop that can be used for a variety of uses and applications, which is why we held the contest,” said NCGA Market Development Action Team (MDAT) Chair and Iowa farmer Bob Hemesath. “The value of corn as an industrial feedstock continues to improve thanks to advancements in technology, production and logistics efficiency. Corn is the perfect solution for biobased products, especially as society becomes increasingly interested in more sustainable products.”

Previous winners of the Consider Corn Challenge contests have scaled up to the next phase of development, received additional grant funding, entered into joint agreements and obtained registration for state biobased production incentives.

If all 15 winners of the Consider Corn Challenge I, II & III reached full commercialization with products available in the marketplace, the potential for additional corn demand could be approximately 3.4 billion bushels.

“This contest allows us to be more innovative in meeting the needs of our customers, who want more sustainable, biobased products,” Hemesath added. “Farmers have made great strides over the years to utilize the technology that allows them to grow more on less land using fewer resources per bushel. There is enough corn grown to be able to meet the needs for food, feed, fuel and new uses.”

The total prize pool was U.S. $150,000, split equally between winners.

The six winners of the Consider Corn Challenge III are the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, BioAstra Technologies from Quebec, Canada, Catalyxx of Chesterfield, Missouri, Danimer Scientific based in Bainbridge, Georgia, Låkril Technologies out of the University of Minnesota, and Sylvatex from San Francisco, California.

Let’s dive into Låkril Technologies and the other 5 winners.