One southwest Iowa farmer said he can’t afford to sell his 400 acres of corn on the open market this fall. “I’m going to feed as much as I can to cattle,” said Dan Follmann of Massena. Follmann said he is worried that the low prices may not stop at corn. “I’m afraid with all the cheap corn, though, the cattle won’t be worth much either,” he said. A new research project called Germ Plasm Enhancement of Maize (GEM) may soon offer Follmann and other Iowa corn producers new choices for marketing their corn. ISU scientists are participating in the research project, which is sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture. There are varieties of corn with unique starch characteristics valuable to the food industry, said Sue Duvick, lab manager for the GEM project. However, these exotic varieties currently cannot be grown in Iowa due to the climate. By a process of cross-pollination between exotic corn and varieties suitable to Iowa’s climate, researchers hope to develop new lines that have both the desired starch characteristics and the hardiness needed to grow in Iowa. “We’re trying to come up with new products fast, so that we can use more corn,” Duvick said. She said the project may have positive benefits for Iowa corn producers. “Hopefully it will translate into more profits [for the producer]. We use traditional plant breeding, cross pollinating and self-pollinating techniques in our research – it’s not GMOs [genetically modified organisms].” GEM project leader Linda Pollak said the Iowa Corn Promotion Board selected Iowa State as the site for the research. Funding is provided by the Iowa Corn Checkoff. Pollak, assistant professor of agronomy, said researchers hope to offer benefits to both corn producers and consumers with the new research. GEM project leader Jay-lin Jane said there are two starch traits of particular interest to the food industry. One trait is the thickening of starch at a below-average cooking temperature. It would be cheaper and environmentally beneficial if the starch required less cooking, said Jane, professor of food science and human nutrition. This lower cooking temperature would benefit the microwave food industry. Another favorable trait is starch stability. This is the ability of starch to maintain its consistency after cooling. “We’re hoping to develop a corn variety with natural starch stability,” Jane said. She said the product would be cheaper to produce, and the consumer would not have to be concerned about the addition of chemicals. Corn starch is used in a variety of products, including cloth, paper and animal feed, Jane said. Ethanol, another corn product, may also get a boost from the low-temperature thickening trait, Jane said. It would help reduce the cost of producing ethanol if it didn’t have to be heated to a high temperature. Jane said there are several other valuable characteristics researchers hope to introduce into Iowa-grown corn. One trait is to increase digestibility in livestock feed. Certain corn starches, Jane said, are more easily digested than others are. She said better digestibility affects the rate at which the livestock grows. Follmann said the research may help him and his neighbors in the long run. If corn with more desirable traits becomes available for him to grow, he says he’s ready give it a try. “Anything that would add to the marketability of corn, I’m for,” he said.