corn
This article is about the cereal grain, also known as corn in some countries. [1]
Corn or maize as it is known outside of the British Isles and the U.S., is an agricultural commodity classified as a cereal grain. [2]
U.S. corn farmers were unable to plant on soggy or flooded fields from Arkansas to North Dakota this year, signaling tighter grain stockpiles even after rising demand for livestock feed and ethanol sent prices surging. [3]
Thanks to Washington, 4 of every 10 ears of corn grown in America - the source of 40 percent of the world’s production - are shunted into ethanol, a gasoline substitute that imperceptibly nicks our energy problem. [4]
Traits that have been engineered into corn include resistance to herbicides and resistance to insect pests, the latter being achieved by incorporation of a gene that codes for the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin. [5]
Check out this awesome food term on FoodNetwork.com! [6]
Corn ethanol is produced from the agricultural product as a biomass through a process of industrial fermentation, chemical processing and distillation. [2]
Inedible parts of the plant are used in industry - stalks for paper and wallboard; husks for filling material; cobs for fuel, to make charcoal, and in the preparation of industrial solvents. [7]
By the end of the growing season, the kernels dry out and become difficult to chew without cooking them tender first in boiling water. [1]
‘That means ethanol production is totally unresponsive to price,’ Wallace Tyner, an agricultural economist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, said in a report this week. [3]
Everything on the corn plant can be used: the husks for tamales, the silk for medicinal tea, the kernels for food and the stalks for fodder. [6]
The Olmec and Mayans cultivated it in numerous varieties throughout central and southern Mexico, cooked, ground or processed through nixtamalization. [...] The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. [1]
In 2001, Bt176 varieties were voluntarily withdrawn from the list of approved varieties by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when it was found to have little or no Bt expression in the ears and was not found to be effective against second generation corn borers. [5]
Natural cereal grains are produced on a large scale for human consumption and farm livestock feeding. [2]
Sources:
[1] Maize - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[2] Corn - Online Guide and Resources About Maize Food and Products
[3] Soggy Corn Fields Curb U.S. Planting as Demand for …
[4] The Great Corn Con
[5] Transgenic maize - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[6] corn : Encyclopedia : Food Network
[7] corn: Definition from Answers.com - Answers.com: Wiki Q&A combined …