NCGA launches Consider Corn Challenge with $300K in prizes

The National Corn Growers Association is launching its fifth iteration of the Consider Corn Challenge, a contest in which participants can submit proposals for new uses of field corn that have quantifiable market demand.

“Biobased products are a win-win for everyone,” said NCGA Research & New Uses Chair and Kansas farmer Chad Epler. “NCGA is investing in these biobased solutions and positioning corn as the feedstock of choice. To demonstrate our commitment to identifying and developing these new uses we are increasing the prize by $50,000 to a total of $300,000.”

Previous winners of the 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.

They’ve also received additional investment by state corn associations and have even won the Radicle Challenge, which invests a minimum of $1.5 million for those individuals and companies developing new uses for field corn.

Låkril Technologies, for example, is a company that recently won the contest by developing a cost-effective method of producing acrylic acid and acrylates out of renewable feedstocks like corn. Acrylic acid and acrylates are used to make several products, including plastics, coatings, adhesives paints and can even be a key material in medical devices.

“The Consider Corn Challenge brought Låkril Technologies visibility and contact with multiple corn grower associations and industrial corporations,” said Chris Nicholas, co-founder and president of Låkril Technologies and a past winner of both Consider Corn Challenge III and the 2024 Radicle Challenge. “These relationships allowed us to expand our business.”

If all 19 winners of the Consider Corn Challenge I, II, III, & IV reached full commercialization with products available in the marketplace, the potential for additional corn demand could be approximately 3.4 billion bushels.

“Corn growers continuously innovate by developing advanced, sustainable technologies that allow them to do more with less as they farm,” Epler added. “This contest is critical in identifying and accelerating new technologies for novel uses of corn, leading to more corn grind for growers, better products for consumers and overall economic development here in the U.S.”

One to three winners will be selected for the Consider Corn Challenge V, with a total prize pool of $300,000, split equally between winners. The submission deadline is June 30 at 5 p.m. CT; and winners will be announced and showcased at the Bio Innovations Midwest event in Omaha, Neb., September 15-16.