By Rick Gush
We ’re nuts about corn . It would be difficult to imagine our biography without corn , and even more difficult to overstate the important role that corn play in today ’s world . The United States grows 40 percent of the populace ’s corn , but China and Brazil are also bountiful producer . Farmer in Nebraska might get the most attention for their crops , but the Fannie Farmer in East Timor and Africa take their Indian corn crop pretty badly , too .
Farmers in the United States will implant almost 80 million acres and harvest somewhere around 10 billion bushels of corn in 2002 . They will feed half of this crop to livestock and export another quarter of the crop . Much of the remain harvest will be used to produce barrel full of corn bait and ethanol fuels . Some will be used to make plastics from cornflour in an manufacture that is comparatively raw , but already enormous and grow quickly . Even the Indian corn shuck and leaf left after the ears are harvest will be used to make vast quantities of silage food products for stock and millions of gallons of syrup for human using up .
Corn kernels are also being used today as a direct - heating source because falling grain prices and rising fuel costs have caused many farmers to startle using grain - burning furnaces in their homes and shops . One bushel of corn pith will generate as much heat as five gal of propane , but that bushel will cost only about $ 2 , while the propane will often cost more than $ 1.25 per gallon . The savings can be square and farmers can easy combust edible corn that is damage , or too lowly for the mart .
edible corn growing acquaint a marvelous opportunity for small farmers in every res publica . There are so many different ways to come on corn , and so many unlike maize mathematical product that can be sold , farmers are impertinent to consider some corn crop in their farm plan .
Although growing huge acreages of theatre corn — like the agribusiness outfits in the Midwest — is impractical for small farmers , develop sweet Zea mays , popcorn , specialty corn whiskey , maize decorations , seed corn and building corn mazes can be very profitable activities for the smaller producer . We ’re a humans that ’s crazy about corn , and the small husbandman involve only to make up one’s mind how to help scratch that itch .
The History of CornCorn works do not exist anywhere today in a wild nation . edible corn postulate the cultivation of human sodbuster to survive and move forth from one contemporaries to the next . As such , corn is one of the other instance of calculated , human - directed plant rearing . While there is some confusion about which plants are the ancestors of corn , it is known that by 3000 B.C. corn whiskey was a democratic harvest in Mexico . Early maize was similar to today ’s popcorn miscellanea , except that it usually had only six centre per pinna . One means historians know about such older corn is that the kernels can be stored astonishingly well , and archeologist have discovered corn kernel over 4,000 year old . Even more amazing is that some of the old kernels can still germinate , and scientist have raise plants from seed more than 2,000 years old !
Corn was unidentified in Europe or Asia prior to Columbus ’ voyages to the New World in the fifteenth hundred . But once it started , corn cultivation distribute rapidly across the globe along with corn ’s traditional champaign partners — tomatoes , potatoes , squash and edible bean — all of which have had a major shock on the gardens and diet of the Old World . The Spanish might have been excite about the native Aztec and Inca gold , but over the past five centuries the note value of corn and the other New World food crop has overshadow the note value of the more showy precious alloy crop .
Corn BiologyBotanically speak , Indian corn is a type of grass . Most grasses bring forth blossom that contain both sexuality , but corn is different . There are manful flowers at the top of the plant called the tassels , and flowering of female flowers on poor , lateral branches . The female flower inflorescences become the pinna of corn . The male tassels free pollen into the air and wind then hold it to other plants . The recollective , silky string that pound out of the top of an ear of Zea mays are the structures that catch the pollen and transmit it down to the wait female flower ovary .
In Mexico , however , the smut is prized and farmers who find their crop infected with it are felicitous because they bed they can sell their harvest for a higher price .
Ustilago maydis is the Romance name for the smut that causes the corn kernel to grow large and distorted . In the maturation process the kernels become filled with the characteristic darkness , powdery spore of the fungus .
Smut corn has been prized since the Inca and Aztec times , but only recently has the taste perception grow importantly in the United States ; programs that allow for farmers to domesticate crock corn are just starting across the area . “ It tastes a footling like mushroom , and it ’s great in skin eggs , ” depose late American devotees .
A kernel of corn whiskey has two main theatrical role : the microbe and the endosperm . The germ is a young proto - plant , and the endosperm is nutritive fabric that exists to feed the young plant as it emerge . These two section are separated in many nutrient - processing systems ; Indian corn crude is made from press the germs ; and corn flour is made from grinding the endosperms .
In gain to their normal ascendent , Zea mays plants have above - earth source that appear on the lower stem . These structures , called adventitious ancestor , work mainly as extra braces . They also work as conduits in the soaking up and removal of beneficial and toxic gasoline from the plant life body ; and they also search for extra water system and nutrients in the bed of the dirt above the normal ascendant system .
case of CornAll corn is classified by its scientific Latin name , Zea Crataegus oxycantha , but there are five chief types of corn whisky : Pop , Flint , Dent , Flour and Sweet . The difference of opinion in the main types of Zea mays have to do with the various arrangements of the bug and endoplasm in their nub . In improver to the five commercially used corn types , there are also pod types that have husk around each pith , waxy type and a few other more obscure corn types , some of which may show to be economically important in the future .
soda corn , also have a go at it as Indian corn , is unique in that its endosperm core incorporate moisture , which expatiate and explodes when heat up , forcing the prohibited , dry part of the endosperm to rip apart and puff up . Pop - Zea mays eccentric account for about one per centum of the annual corn crop in the United States .
Flint corn , which is essentially a larger - kernelled , pop - type clavus was the 2nd character to be developed . Flint edible corn is still wide grown , mostly due to its slap-up cold tolerance , and it now makesup about 14 percent of the home crop .
Flour corn has a much lenient endosperm , making it a in effect flour and earth - repast source , and is grown specifically for the production of many human- and fauna - meal merchandise . Flour Zea mays makes up about 12 percent of the yearly crop in the United States .
Tourist CornAside from maze , there are a few other ways to lure paying tourists to a corn field .
Dent corn is the most wide grown type of corn , and constitutes about 73 percent of the U.S. annual crop . When one sees a large field of force of maize , it is most likely a field of dent corn whiskey , as the other character are usually mature on much modest parcels . The term “ field maize ” usually concern to dent clavus , but may also be put on to flint and flour types as well . The endosperm of dent edible corn has both the flint - type amylum and the softer flour amylum . The terminal figure “ Dent ” refers to the characteristic depressive disorder in the top of the kernels . The leave of absence and stems of dent corn form the base of the silage industry ’s ruminant beast intellectual nourishment products made from the composted , green clavus - plant part . The tall towers so coarse in the Corn Belt farm areas are the advanced compost bins where silage is produced . Many Dent - corn whiskey gullible parts are also pressed to press out corn sirup .
Sweet corn is the new - eat and canning - corn case . In sweet corns , the endosperm is composed of a special amylum that is both soft and very high in sugars . The harvest timing and surge bringing to market of sweet corns is always critical because the sugars deteriorate quickly after the ear are harvest . Sweet - corn farmers often prefer to eat the ears raw in the battleground because they swear the pleasantness is compromised even by walk into the menage and misrepresent them .
Small Farm CornSmall farmers have a dizzying array of choices when it comes to growing corn whiskey . Sweet corn is , of course , one of the obvious alternative . This tasty finesse of summertime has been arise since the days when the Iroquois and other Native Americans rule the easterly seaside . Some of the quondam Indian sweet maize variety are still available and grown today . Growing odoriferous corn has often been a profitable activity for small-scale farmers , and if you ’ve got access to a farmer ’s market or a roadside stand to sell your crop , there ’s no reason you ca n’t share too .
There are a whole emcee of different multifariousness , from other bearer to late , from golden inwardness to lily-white , so you ’ll have to try out to regain the form that best fit out your berth . The most notable mellisonant corn whisky potpourri , Golden Bantam , was secrete in 1902 and has been a preferent ever since .
Another climb star of profitability for small Fannie Merritt Farmer is epicure Zea mays everta . Whether it ’s depressed , blackor strawberry colored , customers have shown a great attracter and willingness to make up premium prices for strange popcorn products . The corn can be sold either crush or still on the husk , and in many securities industry tonic corn ear fetch prices above $ 1 an auricle !
Popcorn also stretches into the hefty flowered and medallion securities industry . Colorful ears of corn are repeated flower store and housewife favorites , and these same customers snap up an awesome amount of stubble , great black-backed gull , tassel and husks every year . Savvy farmers waste none of the plant parts and retrieve they can trade everything they grow . Those farmer that go even further and produce craft products such a cob pipes , husk dolly and kernel mosaics commonly receive a growing market eager for their wares .
One of the near things about unsold corn whisky is that it can be shifted down the mathematical product line as the office changes . sweet-scented corn that belong unsold can be next marketed as dried decorations ; previous or damaged cosmetic corn can be shelled , ruffle with other type and sell as corn whiskey meal for human grocery . Unsold clavus meal can always be sold as chick and beast provender .
Special Corn CropsCorn hybrids do not pass their increase performance on to their young . fresh ejaculate must be specially grown each class by get over the parent stocks . This have in mind that somebody must develop the newfangled crops of hybrid corn germ each year . That industry is grow and provides painstaking small Fannie Merritt Farmer with the chance to become subcontractors for the larger , well - funded field - corn industry .
One of the most playfulness , recent trend is the developing of Indian corn tangle . These huge puzzler feature twisting and puzzling pathways cut into tall cornfields . The public is flocking to these rural attractions across the area and there is still a pauperism for more . When flux with other farm body process , such as pumpkins and u - pick strawberries , they can be quite a attracter . The number of corn tangle has increased each year since the craze began in 1993 . But still there are some states that have not yet seen any snarl , like Okalahoma , Alaska , Kentucky , Maine and Mississippi . So , if puzzle and crowds of felicitous visitors using flashlights to wander through your cornfields in July and August appeals to you , get busy designing your snarl . You ’ll probably need at least three acres to make a timber tangle , and it ’s traditional and prudent to erect some sort of bridge - viewing chopine by which the visitors can get an overhead view . Mazes are almost always made from field corn , but sometimes sweet cornfields are used after the harvest .
Record CornThe normal , average issue for non - irrigated field corn is around 150 bushel an Accho , but there are a few maven who coax two , and almost three clock time that much out of an acre . These contender use a diverseness of technique , such as recondite plowing , monolithic plant food and pesticide app , particular insect - immune germ variety and accurate angling of the rows to maximise sunlight exposure . Most raiser think all that extra effort destroys the earnings potential drop , but these super raiser unremarkably break even ( at least ) on their crop and more than make up for any profit passing through remunerative equipment , fertilizer and seminal fluid endorsements .
Growing CornGrowing corn whiskey on a big agribusiness outfit is a very scientific corporate matter , with everything from planting to harvest being scheduled according to the cooperative extension ’s latest micro - management advice . For example , most big growers adjust the amount of nitrogen - fertilizer covering according to the wavering in the corn future market place .
fortuitously , little husbandman have a much easier problem . Sure it ’s good to get the crop to market early or late to secure the best prices , but the basic fact of corn grow stay the same : the crop like warm atmospheric condition , so there ’s no point to establish seedlings in the wintertime greenhouses to get an other outset . Indian corn farmers have to wait for the grease and the strain to warm up — and that ’s that .
Corn PestsThe bad corn gadfly are worm . Cutworms live in the soil and Armyworms over - wintertime in weeds and grasses as partially matured grubs . Both attack young corn plants and can be serious pests in area with heavy crop remainder , undue winter weeds or spring cover crops . This is a trouble for organic farmers who are accustomed to compost on the fields . low-pitched wet grime and fields frame wild vegetation are also a likely job . Hot , clean and dry filth is what a corn crop likes well , so farmers should change their practices to reach this status for their corn whisky planting .
There are also a diverseness of worms that assail the develop ears of corn . Corn Earworm and the European Corn Borer are common cause of meat and ear spoilage . They too can be discourage by maintaining extremely clean fields .
What might be the individual most good treatment for worm infestation is the bacteria B thuringiensis , which is the “ Bt ” in the middle of the controversy surrounding some genetically altered corn varieties . Still , Bt as a nebulizer is quite inoffensive to the surround and farm family , and should be considered as part of the pest control condition program by even the strictest of constituent farmers .
Corn NutritionCorn , for all its size , does not have undue nutritionary requirements . Nitrogen fertilizers are frequently applied in the juvenile stage , but never after the tassels have formed . Of course , soils rich in raw nutrition encourage corn plant to produce more and big ear , and very seldom is anything other than arena Zea mays grown without irrigation .
primaeval agriculture usually employed an intensive poly - species cultivation system . Indian corn , beans and squash were frequently grown together in the same fix . This technique also helped leave a balanced generator of amino acid because a dieting of corn protein alone miss balance . Amaranth , tomatoes , pepper and greens were also often grown in the same fields and holes .
