10/08/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/08/2025 06:14
Oct 8, 2025
Key Issues:New Uses
Author:Dusty Weis
Big revelations include bio-based air filters, corrosion inhibitors and an ethanol production booster.
Our ability to produce American corn is outgrowing demand for the crop.
And if growers are going to get some relief from sagging corn prices, our nation's innovators are going to have to find new uses for the commodity.
Fortunately, corn is a versatile crop that can be processed into all manner of plastics, fibers and distillations.
And with this year's Consider Corn Challenge, the NCGA shined a spotlight on some of these innovations, while also incentivizing new research.
So in this episode, we meet Curtis Firestone, the co-founder and CEO of Aerterra, an air filter manufacturer that sources its household and commercial products from the corn that we grow in our fields. The filters are eco-friendly, and can be used interchangeably with the petroleum-based versions that are standard in homes and businesses.
We'll be joined as well by Chad Epler, a farmer from southeast Kansas who serves as the chair of the NCGA action team dedicated research and new uses for corn.
Together, we'll discuss how the Consider Corn challenge is a game changer for innovators, how it's moving the needle on corn demand, and what other future uses we're pioneering.
https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/ncga?selected=PDM5463508749
Curtis Firestone
When we heard about the Consider Corn Challenge, it struck us as the perfect way to connect directly with growers and show that corn could power something as everyday as an air filter.
Chad Epler
Corn can be used in so many different avenues. And when we have that demand, what we hope is that we have more movement in the market.
Dusty Weis
Hello and welcome to the Cobcast: Inside the Grind with the National Corn Growers Association. This is where leaders, growers and stakeholders in the corn industry can turn for big picture conversations about the state of the industry and its future.
From the fields of the Corn Belt to the DC Beltway, we're making sure that the growers who feed America have a say in the issues that are important to them, with key leaders who are shaping the future of agriculture.
So make sure you're following the show on your favorite podcast app and sign up for the National Corn Growers Association newsletter at NCGA.com.
I'm Dusty Weis, and we're joined today by two guests whose work is taking us into the future. A future where we can use corn in new products that we use every day.
First up, we've got Chad Epler, a farmer from southeast Kansas who serves as the chair of NCGA's action team dedicated to research and new uses, which is what we're talking about today. So, Chad, the action team recently wrapped up a competition to find the most promising new uses for corn. We're going to get into that in a minute.
But first and foremost, what can you tell us about your operation? Thanks for carving out some time during the busy season here, first and foremost. But where are you guys at in harvest?
How's it coming along? How's the crop look?
Chad Epler
You bet Dusty, thanks for having me. We got done with corn harvest, we wrapped up two weeks ago. And in our state, we are some of the first to get done. We are located in the extreme southeast corner of the state. So, yeah, we wrapped up two weeks ago. We had some really good… in our area, really good.
And then we went to the other side and we had some really poor, and some of the rains that we had late April/May, anything that was flat really took it on the chin. And so that's going to flatten out our average just a little bit. But yeah we're moving on to the next thing.
And we're spreading fertilizer today, doing a burn down on our corn stalks. We drill our wheat right into the corn stalks. So that's going to happen in a couple of weeks. But we got to do all the prep work for that. As soon as I'm done here, that's where I'm headed.
Dusty Weis
Right out to the field right? And where in the world are you guys located and how long has your family been there?
Chad Epler
Yeah. Columbus, Kansas. So if you know, I always use Joplin, Missouri, because people have heard of Joplin, whether it's the tornado or things like that. We are exactly 25 miles west of Joplin, across the state line. So Miami, Oklahoma, we're about 20 miles. Joplin we're about 25. So we're down in the extreme portion of Kansas.
And we've been here, gosh, this is my granddad's parents farmed. He farmed. My dad and uncle joined in, my cousin and now I left teaching high school agriculture to come back to the farm. I think it was 13 years ago. So I want to continue on that tradition. I'm a sentimentalist at heart and that meant a lot to me to carry that on.
So here I am.
Dusty Weis
You were the high school ag teacher, I got to say, man, I've got some fond memories of my high school ag teacher. And so it's really, really cool to hear that you were able to sort of shape the interest of the next generation in our way of life before getting back to it yourself there. That's really cool stuff. Thank you for sharing that there, Chad.
And of course, also joining us today is Curtis Firestone, a co-founder of a company called Aerterra, which sources American grown corn to make its products. And just a few weeks ago, NCGA announced that Aerterra was one of the winners of the fifth Consider Corn Challenge. Curtis, welcome. Excited to have you on the show.
Curtis Firestone
Thanks, Dusty. Great to be here with you.
Dusty Weis
Tell us a little bit more about the company. What is it that you guys make? How do you do it and what was your interest in getting involved in the Consider Corn Challenge?
Curtis Firestone
You know, at Aerterra, we're rethinking something that's in every home and business. Air filters. Instead of being made from petroleum based plastics, our filters are made with corn. American grown corn. We use a renewable corn based polymer that performs just like traditional materials, but it's healthier for the environment and part of a sustainable circular bio economy.
In short, we're taking something people already need and use every day and making it better for farmers and the families and the planet.
You know, our interest in the Corn Challenge was we were just finishing our product and getting ready to launch, and we knew the next big step was building industry support. That's when we heard about the Consider Corn Challenge through NCGA outreach. It struck us as the perfect way to connect directly with growers and show that corn could power something as everyday as an air filter.
More than funding, we were looking for a partner to help us take this to market, and NCGA's backing has been instrumental in opening doors and giving us that early momentum.
Dusty Weis
Now, Curtis, that's real interesting to me here because I got to figure that, and back me up, air filters are one of those things that people probably take for granted until there's a problem with one, right? Like, I don't think about the air filter that's under the hood of my car or inside the furnace down in the basement here until it's a problem for me.
But what kind of filters do you all make?
Curtis Firestone
We're making, you know, residential, commercial air filters. MERV 8/11/13. What people use every day.
Dusty Weis
And are those available commercially yet? Or are you still sort of in the pilot build up phase?
Curtis Firestone
Nope. They are commercially available. I think Chad will attest to being a consumer or buyer of our filters and so yeah, we recently launched and have all of the key sizes and MERV rated filters available.
Dusty Weis
Oh that's awesome. And in that same vein of a lot of people don't think about it necessarily, I guess I hadn't realized that the ones that I buy at the Farm and Fleet, I hadn't realized that those were petroleum based. What's the way that filters have been made in the past, and how are you all doing that differently?
Curtis Firestone
Yeah. So as you're correctly pointing out, Dusty, traditionally they have been petroleum based. And that is a huge problem. You know, from an environmental standpoint, over 250 million filters are used and end up in landfill every year.
And so for us to be able to take a renewable material, bio-based PLA and use that as a substitute for the petroleum-based materials, it is going to be able to reduce the landfill environmental problem and delivering clean air is what we are all about, but in a healthier way for the planet.
And so being able to use the PLA as the base material, we're able to offer the same performance at the same cost of what people are accustomed to.
Dusty Weis
That's outstanding and a lot of the time when we're talking about substituting a corn-derived product for something that was previously petroleum-based, people cite the benefits of being able to source that from something renewable, and I'm sure that's a big part of the draw there. But another thing that they're often able to cite is the fact that it'll biodegrade eventually.
When you take a petroleum-based filter, pull it out of your furnace and toss it in the trash, that thing is going to sit in the landfill for the next thousand years before it starts to break down. Do you have that advantage as well that your stuff will break down faster and cause less clutter in the landfill down the line?
Curtis Firestone
We are. We want to be very careful about the claims we're making on biodegradability, especially in states like California. But what you're saying is true, and we will be going through the process of getting certification. And we know that under certain conditions, that the material that we're using will degrade at a faster rate than petroleum-based.
Dusty Weis
Well, that's outstanding to hear. And I can tell that this is something that's exciting to you. And I could tell you when we started this conversation, it's something that's exciting to Chad as well. Chad, as a farmer and a leader with the National Corn Growers Association, you are on the other side of the equation for this challenge. Could you tell us a little bit more about the Consider Corn Challenge and its value for the industry and for growers?
Chad Epler
Absolutely. This is the fifth Consider Corn Challenge. And every time we do this, it seems like it gets tougher to judge and we get more quality applicants. And so we're always excited to have the Consider Corn Challenge. It's an open innovation contest, is what it is. What we're trying to do is find those new uses for our corn because we want to increase corn grind.
That's the bottom line. We want to increase corn grind. We hope that that will have a trickle down effect and will reach our family farm here with the prices. So that's what we're hoping for. The main markets of corn, we're talking about animal feed. We're talking about ethanol. We're talking about exports. Some people might say, "My gosh, is there enough corn out there to do this?"
Absolutely, absolutely. What we're doing here is not taking away from any of those markets. We want to add markets. We want to increase that grind. And as a farmer, we just got through our 2025 harvest a couple of weeks ago. And we're thinking about next year. What's next year going to look like? Are we going to change varieties based upon what we saw this year?
Farmers are always trying to improve, trying to increase yield, trying to make it better. We also know that there's so many more products that are out there that we don't know about. And it was a privilege to talk to Curtis and Mike and really connect with those guys. And that's why I ordered these filters.
Dusty Weis
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You had them out. You were waving them around.
Chad Epler
Yeah!
Dusty Weis
You went out. You met these guys in Omaha. The first thing you did when you got home was hop on the internet and order some of these filters.
Chad Epler
Absolutely did. Yep. Got them in and ready to go. But we know that corn is going to provide more products out there. I mean, anything you're talking about: paints, different coatings, bio based packaging, sustainable aviation fuel.
Corn can be used in so many different avenues. And when we have that demand, what we hope is that we have more movement in the market. And right now, guys, it's tough when you have high input costs, low commodity prices, you start to have those conversations at the table that you really don't want to have. And we've had those.
What's next year going to look like? What's it going to look like for the next crop, even? Not just corn, maybe it's wheat. What we do in corn is going to affect the wheat and we want to grind corn, we want to make it out there for everybody.
And that's why farmers are investing in our state checkoffs, because they believe in these new uses and they believe in what we're trying to do.
And I'm on the Kansas Corn Commission also. So that's our checkoff. And I love being able to help find ways to utilize those dollars that the farmers put in, because it'll come back and help us all.
Dusty Weis
So working as the chair of the action team on this, I guess I should ask first and foremost, have you been involved with a Consider Corn Challenge before, or was this your first one?
Chad Epler
Nope, so I've been on NCGA's action teams now, oh my goodness, this might be year five. The team right now is called Research and New Uses. Prior to that was market development. And so this would have been my second. But the first time of being the chair. So it was really cool to be in that position and to make these connections and get to do these cool things with you guys right now.
Dusty Weis
Well, again, you know, when you're working out in the field every day and very often in agriculture, we're focused on looking ahead, maybe to next year, but usually kind of just the problems that we have in front of us on a day-to-day basis. To be able to do something where you're looking ten, 20 years into the future on something like this, that's got to be really gratifying.
Walk us through how the challenge works here. This is your second one, so you're old hat at it now. But what can you tell us about how this works in a year like this?
Chad Epler
Yeah. Consider Corn Challenge is really meant for those early-stage ideas, if you will. And so NCGA puts out a call for submissions and the Consider Corn Challenge originated from the market development action team and now the Research and New Uses team. And this last year, what we wanted to do is we wanted to increase the prize money and not have… in the past, we've had up to six winners.
Well, this last year, the grower led team said, hey, let's do up to three winners and then increase that money and try to help some of these companies a little bit right now. And these companies, they could be companies, established, they could be startups, university labs can apply.
And so after you get those applications, and we had 21 applicants this last time. And so you take those 21 and there's a process to go through that. And I think 19 of the 21 went to the next phase of the process. And this year we had some celebrity judges.
And so that's what we want to try to use: Industry experts and people from the biotech industry come in as these celebrity judges, plus the state staff, other growers, other judges that come in and they get to decide, hey, here's our winners.
They said this year it was the most difficult year to pick the winners because it was that tough and that good of applications. And when I hear that, I hear something like that and I'm thinking, okay, so you have 19 really good applications for the use of corn, and we're going to have the three winners, and we're going to highlight the three winners and celebrate the three winners.
There are 16 others that could use our product and that's what we want. We want to increase that grind. And so that was really cool to have that feedback from the judges. So the winners, we announced Curtis's company Aerterra, announced at the Bio Innovations Midwest in Omaha. And each of the three winners got the prize money. And so they're going to get to use that right away.
And hopefully that'll help them go to the next level. Now after the challenge, like what we're doing now, what we want to do is we want to build the winners up. We want to amplify them, connect them with other funding sources, venture capitalists, write letters of support for grants, and really, we want to help them take this to the next level.
And it's been a real honor to be able to visit with these guys, get to know these guys and what their product is doing. It's a win for them, and it's a win for us as a corn farmer because we're using the product that we grow. It's pretty awesome stuff.
Dusty Weis
That's fantastic. And I didn't realize that the competition was so fierce this year. And so I guess, Curtis, I've got a question for you here. As one of the three organizations that came out the winner here, it's got to be really gratifying to have your work recognized for that.
In that same vein, to hear that there are 19 others who didn't make it.
What can you tell us, as someone who's walked that path about the challenges that they're facing right now in coming up with an idea, going out, trying to find funding, trying to pitch people on these new uses for corn that they might not have anticipated. What do these folks need to do? What advice could you offer them to get to the point where you're at right now?
Curtis Firestone
Well, I'd say Dusty right off the bat, go and find somebody like Chad to hire and make them a national spokesperson for your company. But to answer your question, Dusty, winning the Corn Challenge has just been tremendous. Obviously, the funding is going to be extremely helpful for us, but it's really the credibility. Having farmers and industry experts say, "Yes, this is worth backing" has opened doors with investors, with customers and other potential partners.
You know, just as important, it's given us a closer connection to corn growers. At Aerterra, we want farmers to know we're not just using corn. We're building a market that supports them long term. That sense of shared purpose has been very valuable and rewarding. And listening to Chad talk about the conversations that are going on around the table, what's happening next year, what's going to happen in the future, looking at applications that are being supported.
That's what we're all about. And so it has been a tremendous honor to be considered. I'm just excited about the future. You know, it's really the scale of possibilities. Air filters are something in every home, school, office and hospital. Millions and millions are used every year.
And even if a portion of those are made with corn, that's not just a niche product. That's a brand-new market for growers. And that's just one category. You know, corn can be the foundation for so many other products that Chad has pointed out. And what gets me excited is that we're just scratching the surface.
Dusty Weis
As I was getting ready for this conversation, I was looking over some background information about this, and I saw something that kind of got me excited. And obviously talking to you got me a little bit further excited here. But there have been 22 winners of the Consider Corn Challenge now, and NCGA figures that if all of those products get to market and scale up, eventually it's going to create demand for an additional 3.4 billion bushels of corn.
Which is a lot of corn grind. I'm a business founder myself, Curtis, and so I know that when you start a new thing, you've got your head in the clouds and you're trying like heck to keep your feet on the ground at the same time there.
But let's play a best case scenario for a second here. Let's say that this business continues to grow, you continue to scale up, you capture a sizable market share. How much additional demand for corn do you think that you all could create at Aerterra?
Curtis Firestone
There's probably about 100g of PLA used in each filter, and so that translates roughly, there's probably about 1.6kg of PLA from one bushel of corn, and so 0.06 bushels of corn are going into a filter. And so if you look at the overall industry, you know, 250 million filters, if they were replaced by corn, that may be 15, 16 million bushels.
And so not the sizes that you're looking at for feed or for fuel, but still potentially for a single product, quite significant.
Dusty Weis
It's not nothing. And certainly if you meet with success, it gets other folks interested in moving into that area as well. And hopefully inspires other people to take a closer look at corn and what they can do with it. No it's really cool stuff, and I can just sense the optimism dripping off of you here, man.
You're ready to go out there and run through some brick walls and change the world here. And that's what we're all about with the Consider Corn Challenge. So I wanted to channel that optimism into one last question for each of you here. And maybe we'll start with you, Chad. But as we wrap up the conversation, what's one thing that's getting you excited when it comes to new uses for corn, Chad?
Chad Epler
There's a lot. To narrow it down to one, my goodness. Well, first and foremost, one of the things that I really get excited about when we're diving into new uses and trying to figure these things out, is the people that I get to work with, number one. Other corn growers, state staff, NCGA, staff. I get to work with some really awesome folks who are like minded, thinking ahead and have really become my friends and some of my good friends over the past five years.
And so to come to the table, growers at the table and say, "Okay, what can we do? Let's throw an idea to the wall and see if it sticks." I mean, if you think it's a silly idea, throw it anyway. I have a lot of silly ideas, but let's see what's out there. So the thing that excites me is continuing to work with the awesome folks that I work with, and continuing to find those new uses like we have found through Consider Corn with Curtis.
Dusty Weis
What about you, Curtis? As you look to the future right now, obviously you've got to feel like you've got the wind in your sails here with the big win at the Consider Corn Challenge. But what do you see in the future for your company? Are you looking to scale up into other uses, other potential applications of this as well?
Curtis Firestone
You know, we've been talking about MERV 8/11/13 residential, commercial, everyday used air filters. And so that's going to be our focus. But then what really excites me, as I was saying, we're just scratching the surface. And we've shown that corn can power clean air in everyday life. And so you multiply that across other industries and you start to see how big this opportunity really is for farmers, for consumers and for the environment.
And so it's with, I think, forward-thinking people like Chad, the corn associations that we're excited to become partners with and really start developing new applications that benefit everybody as well as the planet.
Dusty Weis
Well, and, Curtis, if I want to learn more about Aerterra and what you all do or not to turn it into an infomercial or anything, but if I want to be like Chad and run out and buy 20 filters for the next 20 years at my house, where do I do that?
Curtis Firestone
You can go to our website, which is www.Aer-terra.com. You can read all about what we're doing.
Dusty Weis
We'll certainly drop a link into the episode description as well so that it's clickable for folks who are listening. We'll also drop a link to the press release about the other winners of this year's Consider Corn Challenge, because there are some cool use cases getting floated out there. But I have to say, gentlemen, as we wrap up the conversation, it's been a lot of fun talking to you.
Certainly, gives us a lot of reason to feel optimistic about the future. So Chad Eppler, a grower from Southeast Kansas and chair of our action team, Curtis Firestone, co-founder of Aerterra, thank you both for joining us today on the Cobcast.
Chad Epler
Thanks for having us.
Curtis Firestone
Thank you Dusty. Thank you, Chad.
Dusty Weis
And thank you for listening. We hope you'll join us again next month for another episode of the Cobcast: Inside the Grind with the National Corn Growers Association.
If you're on X, you can follow @NationalCorn for more news and updates from NCGA.
Visit NCGA.com to sign up for the association's email newsletter and make sure you're following this show in your favorite podcast app.
The Cobcast is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, with editing by Matt Covarrubias, and it's produced by Podcamp media. Branded podcast production for businesses, PodcampMedia.com.
For the National Corn Growers Association, thanks for listening, I'm Dusty Weis.