The Pacific Northwest's Humble Sweet Corn

The Pacific Northwest’s Humble Sweet Corn

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

Although the news nationally has been focused on the dramatic midwest drought and the damage it has done to the nation’s feed corn crop, the news is positive for the Pacific Northwest sweet corn crop.

Alan Schreiber, owner of Schreiber and Sons Farm, shares sweet corn has a rather humble status amongst the region’s row crops.

Schreiber: “Sweet corn is an often overlooked, kind of unsung hero in the Pacific Northwest’s agriculture. It is one of the more important vegetable crops that we have. You often hear about potatoes and onions, but there is a lot acres of sweet corn in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.”

Which markets are the region’s sweet corn grown for?

Schreiber: “Most of the sweet corn grown in the Northwest is for processing, probably in excess of 95 percent is processed. We have a small fresh market sweet corn industry, both conventional and organic. Because we have minimal pest pressures, we have the largest organic sweet corn industry in the nation in the Northwest, most of coming out of the state of Washington. One of the reasons we have so much sweet corn here is because we have the highest sweet corn yields in the world in the Columbia Basin of Washington and Oregon. We also have a thriving food processing area.”

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.