9-6 IAN Combe Corn

On the backroads of Idaho sweet corn is ripe, and on the Combe family farm on Beacon Light Road north of Eagle they’re charging $4 dollars a dozen. The Combe corn operation is a labor of love that’s spanned 45 years and in the Southwest Idaho produce market, their corn is coveted by fresh food devotees. Father Dean talks about the heritage.

 “Jordan and I have been doing this since he was five years old,” said father Dean Combe. “He’s 17 right now and I have been doing this for 45 years. I started out with my oldest son and the next and soon we worked all down the line until Jordan, he’s been at it 12 years now.”

 Dean and Jordan start planning for the season right after harvest each fall. The father-son team studies all the seed available on the market and can quote market prices going back decades and while price is important taste is their priority. “We started out with golden jubilee when my older boys were in it, and the last six years, Jordan and I got interested in a seed called ‘incredible’. We looked at the new seed because my nephew told me about it, he said it does well told us it does well in sand, these fields are sandy and it grows good and people really love it because it lives up to its name because it’s incredible,” said Dean. The 4-acre corn operation off Highway 16 brings out fanatical foodies that drive from Payette and Boise for the sweet corn, and they’ve done it for decades.