Page created by Dustin Murrell.
The best place to grow corn is in well-aearated, deep, warm soil with a lot of organic matter, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Semi-high summer temperatures, warm nights, and adequate, well distributed rainfall helps it even more during the growing season. The growing season and day length also have a factor on corm growth. The "Corn Belt" in the midwest of the US is almost perfect for this.
Anywhere that there is a lot of corn cultivation (i.e. Corn Belt), mechanization has allowed for a bigger corn yield, and better crop-labor productivity. A lot of machines are used. The most important machines include: wheel track planters, which dig furrows, plant seeds, and cover the seeds; mechanical corn pickers, which harvest ears of corn, and sometimes shell them; field choppers, that cut and chop the stalks.
Another important aspect of corn cultivation is pest-resistance. This is accomplished by using pest-resistant hybrids, having proper cultivation, and using herbicides and pesticides. Many diseases (including Viral) have caused big crop loss in the past few decades, and science is doing all types of research to help this by altering the genetics of certain types of corn.
Production from corn hybrids are at their best when the corn is planted in soil that has the right amount of food and moisture, especially during periods of minimal rainfall. Corn has been grown for 100 years at an experimental plot called the Morrow Plots. It is located at the University of Illinois, and ranges from about 50 bushels an acre, to 160 bushels an acre, depending on the treatment of the soil.
By using adapted hybrids, increasing nitrogen application, and using heavy plant populations, there has been an annual increase of 2.5 bushels an acre every year, for the past 25 years in the Corn Belt. Other important factors include: favaorable soil conditions, favorable climate, good mechanization, effective pest control, modern cultural practices, intelligent water management, and higher productivity.
Beofre the '30's, it took over a half of an hour of labor to produce one bushel of corn. It now takes less than three minutes.