(Radio Iowa) – Governor Reynolds says there’s a possibility India may be a market for Iowa-made ethanol. Reynolds has recently returned from a trade mission to India, which is the world’s third largest ethanol producer. However, the country has set the goal of having a 20 percent blend of ethanol in all gasoline sold in India — by next year — and eliminating all carbon emissions by 2070. Reynolds says not only does that mean Iowa-made ethanol may have a new market, but the ban on imports of Iowa corn — because it’s grown from genetically-modified seeds — might be lifted if that corn is used to produce ethanol.

Reynolds says another idea would be finding plots of land in rural India to grow genetically-modified corn that would be used to make ethanol. She says that could lead to acceptance of G-M-O corn in India for food production.

Reynolds stressed the work of Iowa native Norman Borlaug (BOR-log) as she met with officials in India last month. Borlaug developed a strain of high-yielding wheat in Mexico, took it to India in the 1960s and was credited with saving hundreds of millions in Pakistan and India from starvation.