Corn Facts
- Corn is native to America. It is believed to have originated in the Mexican plateau or the highlands of Guatemala.
- Most historians believe corn was domesticated in the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico.
- There is archeological evidence of corn’s presence in the western hemisphere 80,000 years ago.
- The term “corn” has many uses in the world: In England it means wheat, in Scotland and Ireland it means oats. In the Bible corn probably meant wheat or barley.
- Corn was the most important cultivated plant in ancient times in America.
- Columbus may have been the first to introduce corn to Europe after discovering it in Cuba.
- Corn was originally called maize or Indian corn in the U.S.
- Indian legend said corn was . . .”the food of the gods that created the earth.”
- Corn production played a major role in the development of the Midwest.
- The U.S. currently grows about 80 million acres annually.
- Iowa and Illinois currently are the major corn producing states, together growing about 30% of the U.S. total acreage.
- Some varieties of corn grow to over 20 ft. tall under the right conditions.
- In the modern era about 60% of U.S. produced corn is fed to livestock, 22% is exported, 6% is used for High-Fructose Corn Sweetener, 6% is used for ethanol and 6% goes into other products. The percent for ethanol production has increased significantly in the past few years and is greater than 6% currently.
- Corn may have as many as 500 uses. A few of these include corn meal, canned/frozen corn, baby food, hominy, grits, puddings, tamales, sweet corn on the cob, etc.
- Other uses include filler for plastics, packing materials, insulating materials, adhesives, chemicals, explosives, paint, paste, abrasives, dyes, insecticides, pharmaceuticals, organic acids, solvents, rayon, antifreeze, soaps, etc.
- A very important product of corn played a significant role in the early economy of the Appalachian region of the U.S. Can you guess what it was? . . . . . . . . . “moonshine” aka corn whiskey. In the old days when the long distance trip was made by mule/horse and wagon from the rural Appalachian farming areas to the markets of cities and towns, the farmers learned that a wagon load of corn whiskey was worth a lot more than a wagon load of corn or corn meal.
- In later times when automobiles came on the scene they developed the knowledge to make super fast cars so they could outrun law enforcement. For sport, they would race each other to see who had the fastest car. Hence, the birth of what is known today as NASCAR.
Following are the sources of most of this information.
http://www.agron.iastate.edu/courses/agron212/Readings/Corn_history.htm
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