Corn is an important commodity in farming and most corn grown in the U.S. is used to feed livestock. Poultry, beef, pork and dairy producers use more than 60-percent of all the corn grown in the U.S. The rest is exported (most corn sold to other countries is also used to feed livestock) or processed into such things as: starch (examples: baby food, baking powder, salad dressing, bookbinders, glue, many more); syrup (examples: soda pop, chewing gum, dessert icing, fireworks, adhesives, many more); ethanol fuel (examples: popular additive to reduce reliance on foreign oil and improve air quality in polluted U.S. cities), dextrose (bakery goods, fruit juices, peanut butter, antibiotics, citric acid, lysine, any more) and oil (examples: margarine, potato chips, soup, soap, paint, rust preventative, many more).

This is a silage harvestor. The corn plants are cut and chopped to feed to cattle.

Most American farmers grow dent, or "field" corn. In 1936, farmers planted this type of corn on more than 100 million acres, and produced a little more than two billion bushels. In 1996, farmers planted dent corn on about 65 million acres, and produced more than 7.3 billion bushels. Other types of corn produced include: sweet corn, popcorn, indian corn, high-oil content corn, and flour corn.

Official name of corn is Zea mays.

Click on the Indian Corn picture to get information about Alabama Statistics.

Click on the picture for fun activities and information about corn.