A $1 million grant has been given to Iowa State researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The four-year grant will fund a research project to focus on advancing organic farming, specifically involving sweet corn. The goal is to help sweet corn varieties thrive more in organic settings.

“One of the issues in organic production is to find crop varieties that are suited specifically for organic conditions,” said Kathleen Delate, professor of horticulture and extension organic specialist. 

Delate is one of the members of the research team. She specializes in organic agriculture in outreach programs.

In organic farming, there is no use of synthetic fertilizers or synthetic pesticides. The crop needs to be more resilient and robust so it can compete better against weeds and diseases, Delate said.

Thomas Lubberstedt, professor of agronomy, is also an integral part of the project. 

Lubberstedt’s role in the project is to use his research on haploid genome doubling to help the genetics of the corn perform better while still being able to be classified as organic.

This research will increase efficiency and accelerate corn breeding. These haploids can have fully inbred genetic lines in two generations of corn, rather than the usual six it would take otherwise. 

One of the main aspects of the project is to incorporate the new technologies, like the genome doubling, that have been in progress already at Iowa State, Lubberstedt said. 

Looking more specifically within the organic sweet corn variety, the team is looking to combat the corn ear worm. The ear worm is a common pest to corn crops. There has been work in the past to get rid of the ear worm, but the problem is not 100 percent solved, Delate said. This is the main aspect that Bill Tracy of the University of Wisconsin will be working more on through this project.  

Additionally, Paul Scott from the USDA will be on the research team. He has worked on GMO incompatibility in the past and will continue to use his work with this grant. GMO incompatibility means that the organic corn won’t pick up pollen from GMO corn around it.

Delate said that Scott already has the genes to help breed this into organic corn varieties, but there is still more left to work on.

Over 100 proposals were given for consideration, and Iowa State’s research team was one of the few who was not only approved, but given the exact amount of funding they asked for. 

The team has around five organic farmers in the area who are letting the team use their fields as research sites. They wrote letters in support of the proposal to show that farmers support the research and topic they will be investigating.

Organic farming is a $47 billion industry according to Delate. Even though there are currently 22,000 organic farmers across the country, the demand is still high. There is still a desperate need for more organic farmers in America. 

“Organic corn is the number one money maker for organic farmers in Iowa,” Delate said. “Hopefully this project will develop some new varieties that will improve the bottom line to a greater extent for Iowa farmers but also for the whole Midwest and corn growing region.”