CORN

Corn is grown in many states, but production is heavily concentrated in the U.S. Midwest – Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska are the top producing states. The U.S. is the biggest global producer and exporter, so the crop contributes in a large way to our economy.

 

The biggest proportion of the U.S. corn crop is used to produce livestock feed and ethanol, an additive in gasoline that helps fuel our cars and increase U.S. energy independence. Together, livestock feed and ethanol use account for about 75% of the U.S. corn crop. The remainder is exported, or used in hundreds of different food and industrial products widely known in the U.S. Sweet corn is what people eat straight off the cob, while dried field corn is often used in processed products such as cornmeal, corn chips, corn starch, and corn syrup. Field corn is also used in livestock feed and many industrial products like the polymers for plastics.