Specialty grains: what's hot, what's not

摘要

Here's a look at the dramatic changes in Illinois, including golden opportunities for plain-Jane (non-biotech) grain. Move over, designer grain. The hottest thing in the value-enhanced market is unaltered, plain-Jane grain. Illinois farmers are pocketing an extra 10 to 20 cents per bushel from European and Japanese buyers willing to pay a premium for non-biotech corn and soybeans kept segregated. "The most dramatic development in the past two years has been the rapid growth of non-GMO (genetically modified organism) corn and soybeans as specialty crops," notes University of Illinois' Burt Swanson. "We consider non-GMOs a value-enhanced crop if they include a premium."