All Tech With Corn

Chuck Zimmerman

cutclogoWhere to next on the agriblogging highway? The Corn Utilization Technology Conference. That’s where. With thanks to the National Corn Growers Association.

The focus of this year’s conference is wet and dry milling technologies and of course, new uses. Speaking of new uses . . . I was searching around for laptop, tsa-friendly back packs and found one from Mobile Edge made with Dupont Sorona material. From the Mobile Edge website:

DuPont Sorona is made partially with Agricultural Feedstocks – Corn. This requires 30% less energy during production than Petrochemical products such as Nylon or Polyester, which reduces greenhouse emissions by 63%!

Mobile Edge designed their new Checkpoint Friendly Laptop Case Collection with this new renewable resource, reducing our dependency on oil and petrochemical products. The Sorona fibers are soft and extremely stain resistant with high strength and stiffness qualities.

Bio-PDO™ process consumes 40% less energy than the chemical PDO process it replaces.

My job next week will be to interview the researchers and see if I can get them to speak layman language to describe their projects. I’ll be posting here and on Corn Commentary, the NCGA blog. One person I look forward to interviewing is Kristin Meadors with the Kentucky Distillers Association. She’s delivering the keynote address. Yay, corn for bourbon!

“The bourbon industry’s iconic utilization of corn makes it a perfect platform in which to kick-off three days of lively discussions among the corn industry’s leading researchers, processors and business representatives,” said NCGA Research and Business Development Action Team Chair Tom Mueller. “We are excited to have Kristin Meadors discuss her industry’s impact on our economy and why this corn- based spirit continues its popularity at home and abroad.”

Ag Groups, Corn, NCGA