Why So Many Northern Illinois Sweet Corn Stands Are Missing This Summer

Have you been driving around Northern Illinois lately wondering where all the sweet corn stands are? I have some bad news to share with you, and it's all Mother Nature's fault.

corn field in selective photography

Illinois' Sweet Corn Troubles

Right now, cornfields all over Illinois are looking tall, green, and healthy, and everything appears to be right on track for another great sweet corn season.

Unfortunately, appearances can be deceiving.

Living in a small community full of farming families, I've been hearing from many neighbors and friends who grow sweet corn, and they're saying they won't be selling it to the public this year because the ears didn't "pollinate" correctly. I've also noticed several farms throughout the area sharing the same bad news.

READ MORE: Important Corn Season Warning for Illinois Drivers

Basically, instead of a full ear packed from end to end, farmers are finding ears with scattered kernels, missing rows, or bare tips.

Personally, I know nothing about growing sweet corn, but I have a good friend who does, and she told me this:

After corn tassels it needs rain to help pollinate itself. We got the rain shortly after it tasseled on July 4 this year, but then it got extremely hot in a hurry. I think the corn problems are a combination of that heat and lack of rain after the heat.

Here's a good example of the corn issues many local farmers are noticing:

How Does Corn Pollinate?

After doing a little more research about how corn pollinates, (because I'm quite intrigued now), I learned that every kernel on an ear of corn starts as a single strand of silk.

When the tassel at the top of the corn plant releases pollen, that pollen has to land on each individual silk in order for a kernel to develop, and thanks to July's dry, hot weather, silks dried out too fast and didn't get pollinated properly.

Unlike field corn that's processed into livestock feed, ethanol, or other products, sweet corn is sold fresh, and customers expect to receive full, beautiful ears.

That's why several Northern Illinois farmers are making the difficult decision to skip selling sweet corn to the public this season.

So if your favorite roadside sweet corn stand doesn't open this summer, or you notice fewer local farmers selling corn than usual, now you know why.

It isn't because they didn't work hard enough. It's because sometimes the weather wins, and this year, Northern Illinois sweet corn growers are paying the price.