Imagine how many kernels are found in an acre of corn! How tall is a typical corn plant?Ī typical corn plant can be anywhere from five feet to 12 feet tall. A typical ear has about 800 kernels, according to corn experts. The number of kernels per ear can vary from 500 to about 1,200. How many kernels are there on an ear of corn? This approach usually yields better total production.
How many ears grow on a corn plant?ĭifferent corn plants have different numbers of ears, but much of the field corn grown in Iowa is bred to develop just one large ear rather than several incomplete ears. So be thankful the next time you butter up a big, delicious ear of sweet corn. Millenniums of breeding, first by Native Americans, then by early pilgrims and modern scientists, have resulted in bigger, fuller ears of corn. The earliest known ears of corn were tiny – only a few inches long. The first corn plants seem to have appeared in Mexico, having descended from a plant called teosinte. In the field, the cobs and husks are still valuable because they help maintain good soil fertility and structure, just as compost and mulch do in home gardens.Ībout the Corn Plant Where does corn come from?
The combine spreads the husks and cobs back onto the field as it moves but keeps the grain in a holding tank until it can be unloaded into a truck. Modern combines strip the husks off each ear and remove the kernels from the ears as part of the harvesting process. When corn is harvested, what happens to the cob and the husks? Think of it as about the size of a large bag of dog food. This weight is specifically for shelled corn (after the husks and cobs are removed). How big is a bushel?Ī bushel began as a measurement of volume, but the accepted standard for a bushel of corn is now measured in weight (56 pounds). Even when plants are physically mature, farmers might wait to harvest them until corn kernels have dried further so that the corn can be stored for longer periods of time. Harvest times can vary a great deal because different corn hybrids take different lengths of time to mature. In a cool year, when the corn matures more slowly, much of Iowa's crop isn't harvested until November. In Iowa, some farmers begin harvesting corn by mid-September, though most of the harvest is takes place in October. Nationally, the average is 172 bushels per acre. In 2019/2020, Iowa corn growers grew an average of 178 bushels per acre. That’s about the size of a standard football field. Officially, one acre is 4,840 square yards or 43,560 square feet. Most corn is grown in middle latitudes (between 30 and 45 degrees), about equal to the area north of New Orleans and south of Montana in the Northern Hemisphere. Where does corn grow?Ĭorn grows on every continent except Antarctica. In Iowa, this can be in early April for the state's southern counties, but it can be several weeks later for the state's northern counties. A wide variety of corn hybrids are available that do especially well in Iowa's environment.Ĭorn is planted when the soil is warm enough to germinate the seeds but not so early that the young plants are likely to be damaged by frost.Iowa also produces lots of livestock whose waste includes nutrients that are key to fertilizing fields for better corn production.Iowa has deep, rich soils that suit corn's needs.Iowa usually receives enough rain to support healthy corn production.Iowa has a growing season that is long enough and warm enough to suit corn production.It’s because Iowa is the best place on the planet to grow corn. Why is corn Iowa's leading crop?Ĭorn has been the top crop in Iowa for more than 150 years running! And that’s not because Iowa farmers just can’t think of anything better to grow. And Mexico is huge! Just goes to show Iowa grows a substantial amount of corn. In an average year, Iowa produces more corn than most COUNTRIES! Seriously, Iowa grows about three times as much corn as a country like Mexico. Iowa has been the king of corn for almost two decades. Most of the corn you see growing in Iowa is field corn, which is used to make fuel, feed, food and thousands of other everyday products. You wish! Less than 1 percent – or only about 3,400 acres of sweet corn is grown in Iowa each year. 2021) Is all the corn grown in Iowa sweet corn? At 56 pounds per bushel, that’s over 128 billion pounds of field corn. In 2019/2020, Iowa corn farmers grew 2.3 billion bushels of corn on 12.9 million acres of land. Iowa's Corn Production HOW MUCH CORN DOES IOWA PRODUCE?
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