Exploring the Crops of the Northern Region-Corn

This week is the beginning of a new series. Each blog post will take a closer look at a northern grown crop, and dive into growth, production, and uses of that crop both domestically and globally. Read more about corn below.

Corn is grown in every state across the US. In 2019 farmers harvested roughly 84 billion acres of corn. The northern region, North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Montana, made up for 15 million acres of that. The primary variety of corn grown in the US is dent corn, also known as field corn.

Field corn is a versatile grain that has many uses, but is primarily grown in the states for livestock feed and ethanol use. Roughly half of the corn grown in the US is used in livestock feed, both domestically and internationally. In livestock feed, the corn kernel can be fed whole, cracked, or ground depending on the type of feed and specie. The feed-based corn is commonly fed to cattle, hogs, and poultry across the country and abroad. Corn can also be fermented and used as silage to feed ruminant livestock. All of these different uses of corn highlight its versatility.

Furthermore, corn has other uses outside of livestock feed. Roughly 30% of corn grown in the US is used to make ethanol. That ethanol is then used as a fuel additive for gasoline, along with many other manufacturing purposes.

It is also used to manufacture corn starch, ethanol fuel, sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup, and corn oil products. Corn-based ink is now available, and super absorbent cornstarch is now being utilized in baby diapers and automobile fuel filters. Other recent developments for corn usage include biodegradable plastics and packing materials, specialty chemicals for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, a non-corrosive road substitute (calcium magnesium acetate), adhesives and paper products. These products are expected to increase in demand in the future.

The production of corn in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana contributes heavily to US. In short, corn is an amazingly useful crop grown in the Northern states. For more information about dent corn, visit https://www.northern-crops.com/northern-region-crops-of-the-northen-us/2014/5/2/corn.