A new set of studies, supported in part by the Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council and Minnesota Corn Growers Association, could help further boost the appeal of U.S. corn among foreign buyers.

Researchers at the Fargo, North Dakota, based Northern Crops Institute (NCI) have milled Argentinean, Brazilian and reimported U.S. corn to test pelleting quality and power usage in the milling process.

Meanwhile, researchers at South Dakota State and Auburn universities are comparing the feeding efficiency of the products.

The goal of the studies is to benchmark the financial and nutritional aspects of each origin’s corn and hopefully show that U.S. corn performs better than other origin crops, said Mark Jirik, NCI’s director.

[Click here to hear Jirik explain the research on the Minnesota Corn Podcast]

In a nonpandemic year, NCI brings foreign buyers to the U.S. for courses and trade visits. Often, buyers make comments about U.S. corn looking different than the corn they get from other countries, such as Argentina or Brazil, Jirik said.

“We want to try and change the narrative and focus on the performance of the grain, not the visuals,” he said.

Kurt Shultz, senior director of global strategies for U.S. Grains Council (USGC), which is also partnering on the study, said the project is unique because it looks at grain in the buyer’s warehouse and not the field.

He, too, said it could help buyers see the financial value of U.S. corn.

NCI, which is also partnering with the North Dakota Corn Utilization Council on the studies, hopes to have final results by the end of the summer.

To learn more about Minnesota corn farmer-funded research, visit mncorn.org/research.