A dumb corn question

larry@stinescorner

Well-known Member
The corn most farmers grow,,is what my dad used to call fieldcorn. Heres my question.,is that the
corn used to make corn flakes,,cheese doodles,corn chips and such?Or is a different type grown?
 
To the best of my knowledge there are three primary (broadly defined) types of corn grown. The first, and by a very wide margin the most, is commercial production "Field" corn. Tall, 200 to 300 Bu/acre.
The second is sweet corn. It is time sensitive never matured high sugar varieties.
the third is Popcorn.
Field corn is used for animal feed, corn flakes, and ethanol production. Some specific hybrids are tailored for specific uses under contract with BTOs.
Sweet corn is of many varieties and two major factors. One is for corn on the cob, very seasonal and usually local (except imported expensive corn from south of the equator) the other is contracted corn for off the cob canning.
Pop corn is also found in commercial varieties and contracted mostly. Jim
 
Dad always planted white corn. We ate it when it was fresh. The dried corn we fed to the hogs.
This year I planted both yellow corn and white corn. I have before been planting sweet corn. The white corn tasted better.
The picture is of a bag of tortilla chips from a local grocery chain.
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sweet corn is also frozen for consumer consumption at a later date.

Here is another dumb corn question..........

40 years ago or so I read or was told that "someday" corn plants would produce more than one ear per plant. Or that the tassel and ear position on the plant would be inverted so as to make harvest easier and simpler.
I suppose they meant via genetic engineering, although that term was not mainstream back then.

I wonder if those are goals "they" are still working on?
 
just as Jim said... three types. If picked before it dents regular "field" corn would work as table(on cob, canned....) corn.

Sweet(regular corn just over years bred to taste sweeter)...Fresh soft kernel style(CoC, canned....)

Field(common corn)...dry kernel(Corn Nuts snack, feed....) or flour(ground dry....most corn products) use.

Pop(small kernel)....Popping (go to movie snack)
 
I remember the tassel ear and the pre germatated seed corn. the tassel ear was tried because farmers were switching from natural drying which is labor
intensive and slow harvesting to artifical drying which is less labor and faster to harvest. having the ears up in the air would dry faster and be
less costly. the only problem was with all the weight so high up the fall winds would tip the corn plants over and the ears would be lost so that idea
was abadoned. pregermated seed was seed that was soaked in a liquid solution so when it was planted it would germinate and emerge faster to mature
faster. the only problen with that was when it rained and planting was delayed the see would sprout and plug up the planter so that isea was abadoned
also
 

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