Pioneer’s research efforts include work to both generate hybrids more conducive to the ethanol production process and to understand how to optimize these characteristics under field conditions. Their efforts to generate hybrids for the dry grind industry have resulted in hybrids characterized by high total fermentables (HTF). Their research has
shown that the HTF trait is a more accurate indicator of dry grind ethanol production than total starch or extractable starch. Pioneer has analyzed data from over 15,000 plot samples over 3 years to assign the HTF designation to specific brands. These hybrids, identified as
Pioneer Industry Select, result in ethanol yields up to 4%
greater than a bulk commodity. This could mean an
increase of U.S. $1–2×106 in profitability for a 40×106 -
gallon year−1 ethanol production facility. Additionally,
Pioneer has developed a point-of-sale assay using wholegrain
near-infrared (NIR) technology that allows ethanol
plants to predict the value of corn for ethanol production
by identifying HTF grain arriving at the plant. These
instruments are provided to plants participating in the
Pioneer program (Butzen et al. 2003; Bryan 2003a, b).