By Linda Geist
Things are popping at University of Missouri’s Hundley-Whaley Extension and Education Center in Albany.
The center’s soils are rich for growing field corn, sweet corn and popcorn. For more than a decade, popcorn has been an intriguing and popular favorite in the northwestern Missouri farming community.
Jennifer Miller, director of the MU Hundley-Whaley Center, says popcorn raised at the center serves to promote Missouri agriculture and better the community. FFA chapters sell bags of popcorn at school sporting events as chapter fundraisers. Groups such as Bike Across Missouri that travel through the area also benefit from donated popcorn, and ears of colorful varieties decorate the town during community events.
Miller says there is a lot of interest in popcorn, a non-GMO whole grain. Most of the world’s popcorn grows in the United States, much of it in Missouri. Affordable and low-calorie, it is a mainstay in living rooms, movie theaters and sporting events throughout America.
Americans eat around 17 billion quarts, or 70 quarts per person, of popcorn each year.
Several ears of popcorn grow on each stalk, but ears and kernels are smaller than those of traditional field “dent” corn, says Miller. Each year, the center plants 2 acres of popcorn with a four-row corn planter. Popcorn requires less nitrogen fertilizer than traditional corn and needs pre- and post-planting weed management. Popcorn is more susceptible to lodging, wind and insect damage than field corn, says Miller.
Mushroom and butterfly varieties are top choices, with Indian corn, blue corn and a strawberry-colored corn joining the lineup in 2014, as well as heirloom varieties in 2024.
In addition to popcorn, Hundley-Whaley researchers study different varieties of sweet corn. Most years, they hold a sweet corn tasting event in which participants vote on their favorite variety, but raccoons thwarted this year’s efforts. In addition to being enjoyable, the event also gives sweet corn vendors at farmers markets insight into what might sell well locally, says Miller.
Popcorn and sweet corn are grown in small no-till plots and managed for weeds and diseases. Area horticulturists Todd Higgins and Gwen Funk provide direction and collect data.
Seedway, a mail-order company, donates different varieties of seeds for planting at Hundley-Whaley.
Miller offers these tips for growing popcorn in Missouri:
• Plant after soil has warmed to 60 F or higher.
• Plant in blocks of four or more rows. Isolate popcorn from other varieties of corn for proper pollination; otherwise, it produces blank ears or corn that does not pop well.
• Plant seeds about 8 inches apart and about 1 inch deep in heavy soils, or up to 2 inches in sandy soils. Allow 36 inches between rows.
• Popcorn needs about an inch of rain or water weekly. Fertilize lightly in summer.
• Let corn dry on the stalks.
• Harvest before the first hard frost, shuck the husks, let ears dry for a few weeks, shell the kernels and store in an airtight container.
Photos
Photos courtesy of Jennifer Miller, director, MU Hundley-Whaley Extension and Education Center.
https://extension.missouri.edu/sites/default/files/legacy_media/wysiwyg/News/photos/20241021-popcorn-1.jpg
Each year, the MU Hundley-Whaley Center in Albany plants 2 acres of popcorn with a four-row corn planter. Several ears of popcorn grow on each stalk, but ears and kernels are smaller than those of traditional field “dent” corn.
https://extension.missouri.edu/sites/default/files/legacy_media/wysiwyg/News/photos/20241021-popcorn-2.jpg
Popcorn grown at the Hundley-Whaley Center is given away to promote agriculture throughout the state. The FFA chapter at Albany pops and sells popcorn as a fundraiser at school sporting events.
https://extension.missouri.edu/sites/default/files/legacy_media/wysiwyg/News/photos/20241021-popcorn-3.jpg
Several varieties of popcorn, including this blue-colored variety, are grown in small plots each year at the Hundley-Whaley Center in Albany. MU Extension horticulturists Gwen Funk and Todd Higgins collect data on the popcorn.
Source : missouri.edu