Your Amazon box may start in an Iowa cornfield

If you’re a regular online shopper, you may come home today to an Amazon package (or two, or five) waiting on your front steps.

Surprisingly, those cardboard boxes often get their start in an Iowa cornfield.

Commercial-grade cornstarch, similar to the fine white powder you buy for cooking, is a key ingredient in recyclable packaging. It’s used to make cardboard boxes for online retailers such as Amazon as well as cereal boxes and other food packaging at your local grocery store.

Cedar Rapids is home to the Ingredion cornstarch processing plant. Last summer, Ingredion broke ground on an expansion to meet the growing demand for cornstarch in recyclable packaging.

Ingredion leaders say online shopping, which broke sales records again in 2025, continues to drive the need for more cardboard boxes and paper packaging.

“I was just doing some (online) shopping, and that’s exactly what I think about,” says Patrick Small, plant manager at Ingredion in Cedar Rapids “We’re the beginning of that supply chain, and it starts with farmers. It’s really neat to see.” 

From cornfield to cardboard

Ingredion sources almost 100% of its corn from Iowa farmers, Small says. The Cedar Rapids plant currently processes about 45,000 bushels of corn per day, trucked in directly from local farms.

At the Ingredion plant, corn kernels are separated into cornstarch and corn germ (or the protein and fiber). The corn germ is sold back to farmers for livestock feed. 

The cornstarch is sold to manufacturers that make a wide variety of household essentials, including cleaning products, clothing, medicines, tissues, diapers, bandages and home-building supplies. 

“Even those black paper wrappers on Reese’s peanut butter cups,” Small says. “It’s amazing how many different things that cornstarch falls under.”

Not only are cardboard boxes made with Ingredion’s cornstarch, but also the adhesive tape that holds the boxes together, Small says.

“One of the things we work with here is replacing the glue that might be petroleum-based with a starch-based. That’s where we can start to have an impact (on sustainability),” he says.

Ingredion also offers different types of cornstarch to meet the manufacturers’ needs, whether it’s to make sturdier cardboard or to ensure it biodegrades faster, Small says.

“There are just so many uses for (cornstarch),” Small says. “And as a society, just the amount of shipping today versus 10, 15, 20 years ago, it’s grown exponentially.” 

Quality corn, quality products

Ingredion, which is based in Chicago, plans to finish the expansion of its Cedar Rapids cornstarch facility in 2026. It will increase corn processing capacity by about 5 million bushels to a total of 20 million bushels per year, Small says.

Small, who was hired as plant manager shortly before the expansion project began, says the Cedar Rapids Ingredion plant is proud of its century-long history and its strong working relationship with Iowa farmers.

“Once I got here, I really started to see how important the corn industry is here in Iowa,” he says. “It’s a privilege and an honor to really work in it. It’s so critical.”

Small also says he’s enjoyed meeting with the farmers who deliver corn to the plant. He says Iowa farmers grow high-quality corn, which ensures a consistent end product.

“Without sounding too cheesy, you can tell there’s a lot of love that went into growing it. It’s never lost on me that this plant has been around for 130 years, and that’s all because of the farmers around us. That’s a long history. You’re talking generations of farmers and generations of employees here. The roots run deep,” Small says.

So remember, when you recycle those Amazon boxes at home, you’re part of a bigger sustainability cycle that begins with Iowa farm families and supports local communities.