Organic Corn

Organic Corn

Rick Worthington
Rick Worthington
Growing organic corn has always had its challenges, but researchers are working on developing breeds specifically suited to help farmers who want to grow organic corn.

Dr. Jim Stute, says one of the biggest challenges is developing organic seed corn that will resist contamination from cross-pollination with genetically modified corn. This is of critical importance when farmers sell their organic corn at a grain terminal.

"In organic production, you can't have GMO contamination. If you get pollen coming in from a transgenic crop, that gene shows up, and there are tests. If you come up hot for one of the traits, then you get rejected.

He says cross pollination is really the biggest issue...

"Conventional wisdom is, you need to be 600 feet away from - if you're doing breeding work - 600 feet away from the nearest cornfield," he explains. "But experience says no, pollen will drift, especially if you get windy days and the right conditions, up to a quarter of a mile. So it can cause contamination."

Feeding organic corn is critical to the organic poultry and pork industries, so organic corn seed research has wide implications for the entire organic industry.

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