ST. LOUIS — Bunge North America now offers certified transitional dry milled corn ingredients, a step designed to meet the growing demand for organic products. Farmers need three years to achieve organic certification for such crops as corn, which may be cost prohibitive. Bunge now will pay a premium for the corn during the three-year process.
“The certified transitional market gives farmers an opportunity to sell this corn at a premium to conventional during their shift to certified organic, incentivizing them to make the move into organic farming,” said Gregg Christensen, vice-president of sales for Bunge Milling. “Bunge is taking the lead in corn by connecting farmers who are interested in certified transitional products as a way of building a more scalable and reliable future supply of organic products.”
Quality Assurance International will certify the corn as transitional. QAI also is accredited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program to certify organic product.
St. Louis-based Bunge North America, an operating arm of Bunge Ltd., cites Nielsen data showing organic corn-based foods and meat is about a $2 billion retail market with over 10% annual growth for the past three years. In addition, certified transitional product retail sales have grown five-fold over the past year versus the prior year.
Bunge already offers corn, corn masa, rice and soybean oils that are certified organic under the U.S.D.A.’s National Organic Program. Bunge’s portfolio also includes corn, stone ground ancient grains, rice, sunflower, canola and soybean oils that are Non-GMO Project verified.
