Farmer Josh Tests Corn Moisture Written on October 15, 2009, by Josh.Baynes.
My corn is mature, but it is still pretty wet. On Thursday, Oct. 15, we checked the moisture content of the corn by pulling six ears of corn from my field. As you’ll see in the pictures below, the corn has 29.4% moisture. Ideally, you want the corn to be about 15% or less in order to take it to market. Can the corn be combined at 29.4% moisture? Yes, but it has to be dried in a drying bin. Drying bins will get the moisture down to exactly where you want it. It is nice if your corn is wet like mine, but there is more cost involved, meaning the natural gas used to dry it.
We plan to combine the corn as soon as we can and it will likely need drying out. Ideally, you want stalks to be dry, but if need be, corn can be combined with a little moisture on the stalks. Stay tuned!
If you would like to leave a comment, click here: .
Josh, thanks for the info on the moisture situation. Sounds like it’s supposed to be nicer and warmer for a couple of days, but will it be enough to get things in out of the fields? What do you think our chances are for a real Indian Summer yet this fall?
It seems we usually do at some point in the fall. Probably not real soon though!
Hello Josh Baynes,
From: Native and Genuine farm girl in Iowa
RE: Watch the DVD: King Corn by filmmakers: Ian Chaney and Curt Ellis
READ Book: The Omnivore’s Dilemma by author Michael Pollan & also the book: In Defense of Food
The filmmakers: Ian Chaney and Curt Ellis made the documentary, King Corn which is a humorous and touching film about two best friends who decide to move to Iowa to grow an acre of corn – after finding out (through laboratory hair analysis) that their bodies were made primarily out of….corn.
The filmmakers trace the history of corn subsidies in the US – the current system started only about 30 years ago when the Farm Bill was changed and the emphasis was put on industrial-style monocropping. The two friends lose money growing their acre of corn – the cost of seed, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, and equipment rental outweigh the price per bushel they get for their corn. However, they get government subsidies for growing the corn which makes up for the initial input cost. The film gets to the heart of the matter by revealing the farmers’ frustrations. Many of them are multi-generation farmers caught up in the farm subsidy system. They realize that the current farm subsidies are part of an end to the more traditional farming of generations past, but can’t remove themselves from the system without losing their shirts.
The filmmakers visit cattle feedlots which hold thousands of animals dining on corn-based feed and learn that too much corn causes the cattle to eventually develop an acidic condition in one of their stomachs (acidosis) that eventually kills them. And after having trouble getting a tour of a high-fructose corn syrup factory, they decide to make corn syrup themselves (note: the process requires sulfuric acid and other industrial chemicals). Both corn-fed beef and high-fructose corn syrup contribute to the obesity epidemic in the United States. Nutritionists and others interviewed in the movie also discuss the link between the diabetes epidemic and high-fructose corn syrup (especially corn syrup consumed in the form of soda).The movie contains interviews with Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma) and several farmers in the Iowa town where Ian and Curt grow their corn. All-in-all, King Corn is a well-made, though provoking and sometimes humorous film about our modern food system.
Educate yourself about Corrupt farm subsidy system; Iowa’s Sustainable Food Issues; genetically modified corn; carcinogens: herbicides & chemical fertilizers destroying water supply & population’s health
For copies of the DVD and more information on the filmmakers’ odyssey into the world of corn, check out the King Corn website.
Read more about US agriculture policies, economics, animal feed, family farms, and more on the Sustainable Table Issues pages.