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Cargill Approves Corn Varieties for its Non-GMO Brand (29 September - Cropchoice News) -- Cargill is jumping deeper into the identity preserved corn market with a new non-GMO corn ingredients brand produced by an Illinois subsidiary. Called "Innovasure", the new non-GMO operation is based at Cargill's Illinois Cereal Mills. To reassure buyers that its products won't be GMO contaminated, Innovasure says it will go to "excruciating lengths" to supply non-GMO corn.
Most interesting for producers, whether or not they are selling to Cargill, is that Innovasure is publishing details about its approved non-GMO contaminated seed varieties and testing process.
Cargill contracted with 400 growers before publicly announcing Innovasure. The brand has a website, www.innovasure.com, that explains the basics of their IP system to potential customers. Innovasure will use mills in Paris, Illinois, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Liverpool, UK. The Illinois mill focuses on ingredients for cereals, snack foods, and brewing, while the Indiana operation produces masa flour for tortillas, tacos, and corn chips.
The most interesting item for producers is a list of approved corn varieties for 2000-2001 planting. According to Cargill, the approved varieties list was developed by sampling more than 1,000 hybrids, biotech testing by independent labs, and "carefully evaluat[ing] seed company procedures." The hard starched corn varieties Cargill tested and approved for planting by Innovasure growers (mainly Illinois and Indiana-based) are the following:
108 days maturity: Pioneer 34k77 , Dekalb 579
110 days maturity, Gutwein 2588, Pioneer 34w67
112 days maturity, Pioneer 33g26, Pioneer 33y18, Trisler 5313, Great Heart HT3422, Callahan 6340
113 days maturity, AgriGold 6527, Pioneer 33j24, Beck 6727, Cargill 7110.
Cargill's latest parlay into non-GMO comes at time when it and other big grain processors continue to downplay the demand for non-biotech grain. But like ADM and ConAgra, Cargill is making moves into the non-GMO market even as they suggest it is unimportant.
Source: Cargill, Innovasure |
