These yields are impressive, but i would also like to test nutrient levels
yep. more isnt better if the nutrients are half of a less productive crop . watched a vid from pbs that talks about this. scientists tested a heritage tomato and a top hybrid. most of the nutrients we around half as much as the heritage tomato but the shelf life was 3 weeks for the hybrid and 3 days for the heritage. why the hybrids are so popular. seed for heritage veg. are 4- 6xs cheaper than for hybrids and hybrids don’t grow true from seed so farmers are forced to buy more seed from these big seed companies. why i support the little guys like rareseeds.com instead of the big seed companies. im always on the hunt for improved heritage breeds and support small breeders that do the same.
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That’s field corn it’s mostly starch. Farmers get paid by weight although I think some crops like wheat may have a quality factor.
What surprises me is all the top yields mentioned were from the Eastern seaboard not the cornbelt or further west in areas with greater sunshine. I would think light would be the limiting factor for yield. But what the top growers talk about is how to keep the plant green and functioning longer. If the grain fill period could be extended by 50% the yield could be 50% higher.
I entered my first corn yield contest in high school as an FFA project. That was a small plot about 30x30 feet. And while in college entered into a field scale contest of about two acres. That summer I was working for Green Giant harvesting peas and sweetcorn. It was the driest summer in many years. I think my yield was in the 180 bu/acre range.
Why bitch about nutrients in food crops. Most people don’t eat right anyhow. There are cohorts of people in the USA with 80% obesity rates. Maybe they need food with less nutrients. Or maybe they need to eat the lousy greenhouse tomato rather than a bacon cheese burger. One things for sure they won’t grow their own.
I eat right and mostly store bought. Don’t take a single supplement because I think that lousy store bought food is just fine if you skip over the 80% that to me is not eatable. If people quit eating junk food they’d quit selling it. So, I think it’s all on the buyer, not the seller.
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well at least for the folks like me in the middle, that dont eat alot of veggies, when i do eat them id like them to be as nutritious as they can be. i grow lots of kale and chard. i hate the stuff but my chickens love it and it enriches their eggs, which i do eat.
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Why grip about nutritious food or lack thereof, when you won’t eat them anyway?
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Yeah; some of those newer{1990/2010} field corns are ridiculously easier to grow. Seen folks around here do a mild root rake of clear cut pine land. Roll out the pre-taped corn with zero irrigation. And they get huge healthy looking plants with huge starchy ears. Mildly popular for growers who sell bags of cobbs and straight deer corn.
Apparently just a smattering of rain from rapidly passing summer thunderstorms is enough to get it going. But it is also bottom lands too.
Other then finishing hogs; I do not think it passes the grade for regular feed corn though.
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It’s not only about weight for corn. There are quality standards and they differ based on what it’s being used for. Animal feed, ethanol, human consumption, etc.
Moisture content, broken kernels, amount of fermentables can all affect what that corn gets used for and the price it will get.
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Great points have been brought up. I’m going to add this old link discussing the differences in hybrid versus open pollinated
The book referenced is of value not the link
"I was reading a book called Eco-Farm by the late Charles Walters of Acres magazine and I read something about corn hybrids and I wondered if it would pertain to Cannabis or other vegetable hybrids.
In discussing Open Pollinated corn versus hybrid corn, two samples were taken by a farmer from his field and showed the OP corn contained 19% more crude protein, 35% more digestible protein, 60% more copper, 27% more iron and 25% more manganese than the hybrid sample.
When his OP corn was compared to 4000 samples of hybrid corn from 10 midwest states in a single year, his OP corn contained 75% more crude protein, 875% more copper, 345% more iron, and 205% more manganese. The same trend has also been seen in the content of calcium, sodium, magnesium, and zinc. It could be said that the OP corn contained an average of 400% more of these nutrients.
Further testing confirmed the failure of hybrid corn to uptake certain mineral nutrients. Spectrographic testing at the laboratory of Armour’s Institute of Research in Chicago revealed the hybrid short of nine minerals. The hybrid failed to pick up cobalt and any other trace minerals. The core of vitamin B-12 is Cobalt and a lack of Cobalt is implicated as a cause of undulant fever and brucellosis and Cobalt is the cure.
In the opinion of this writer, hybrid corn merely masks poor farming by producing bins and bushels without the nutrient goodies that are really corn’s reason for being. In other words, quality versus quantity.
What this has to do with other vegetables "
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I wonder the “why” behind all of this. Why so much less protein? I doubt they are specifically selecting for less protein, so what is that they do select for that leads to less protein? Why would the fact that it’s a hybrid alone cause that?
Curious what @Fusion_power has to add on that subject.
If I save my own seed for homestead use, how do you avoid the same fate?
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Diseases hone in on nutrient deficiencies. @fruitnut said it correctly junkfood lacks nutrition. @steveb4 is correct in wanting what he eats to be nutritious. Both are saying similar things which is we need to watch what we eat. The problem is it is not easy to determine what is good for you. My understanding always was defiency in cobalt causes diseases like brucellosis in cattle which shouldn’t eat gmo or hybrid corn in the first place like @fruitnut was elluding to its junkfood to us or them. He was basically saying Clark why worry about the corn when the icecream, pizza, candy, and sodapop etc are the real problems. It is a very valid point. Cows are meant to eat grass. Not everyone agrees obviously which is why it is worth discussing. We all want to learn more by talking about it.
I should also mention not all junk food is junkfood. If you eat pizza made with open pollinated wheat, fresh eggs, homegrown veggies and meat, cheese you made yourself or that is high quality is it still junkfood? Are chemicals and preservatives the problem and not the corn? Should we eat acorn corn meal instead?
Cobalt - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center.
1-s2.0-S0022030257946180-main.pdf (999.4 KB)
Reids yellow dent is readily available if someone is interested
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I vaguely recall a food poverty cultivar of Zea Mays pushed by global aide programs. It was bred to be much higher in baseline nutrition. But was banned from sale in advanced Agricultural countries. Something about not allowing Western Countries dominating the production. So it could be grown where the need was.
Another was a Canadian developed dwarfing corn. But with high grain yields. BR-8 or something like that{on edit, it is sold as CanaMaize}. Used far less water. Lodged far less. But has to have help with weeds. But also does not need a combine to harvest.
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This might be of interest
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Early Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in the World This article is one of nearly 500,000 scholarly works digitized and made freely available to everyone in the world by JSTOR. Known as the Early Journal Content, this set of works include research articles, news, letters, and other writings published in more than 200 of the oldest leading academic journals. The works date from the mid-seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries. We encourage people to read and share the Early Journal Content openly and to tell others that this resource exists. People may post this content online or redistribute in any way for non-commercial purposes. Read more about Early Journal Content at http://about.jstor.org/participate-jstor/individuals/early- journal-content . JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary source objects. JSTOR helps people discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content through a powerful research and teaching platform, and preserves this content for future generations. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization that also includes Ithaka S+R and Portico. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. 576 INDIAN CORN. Genesis of Reid’s Yellow Dent. By William Reid Cubran. The Corn, product of the earth; ark of the secret of veg- itable life, the staff and sustenance of that life. The mystery of creation and chief illustration of the truth of the resur- rection and future life. Chief product of creation. The Cre- ator’s most complete blessing to His creatures and of all cre- ated material things, the crowning act. It has within itself the element of the earth that we call death; by it Life is per- petuated, it must needs go into the earth and die. If it die, it will live again. It has within its golden casket the most vivid picture of the destiny of man. When it dies, it yields again that generation within its narrow house and comes forth to newness of life; comes bounding out into the sunshine, to live anew and continue to bless the world. Look at the glorious field, as it stands waving its prophetic arms in the July sun, full of life and song, its very breath fragrant with the promise of harvest and blessing to the world! See it — glorious vision of waving- emerald sea. As the summer grows older, it produces the most marvelous flower spikes of any known plant and fertilizes the shooting ears that come forth, with tropical luxury, almost in a day. The flowering of the corn and the shooting of the ears is one of the marvels of nature. As we gaze, we see the hand of the Creator performing anew the miracle of feeding thousands with less than five loaves and two fishes. We see the abode of the clods of the valley made into the House of Bread; abun- dance comes to take the place of want; wealth and opulence fill the room of pinching poverty. We should marvel not then, that the red man danced for joy when the green corn was fit for food. That the corn dance was expressive of his thankful- ness to the great Spirit for his bounteous blessings. We should marvel indeed if civilized man did not thank God also James L. Reid. 577 for his bounty for the same cause. Look on the waving, ripen- ing field, when the maple and oak leaves are turning red. Its tasseled plumes are waving jauntily the ensign of victory. Watch the bended caskets, bursting with golden fatness. The fulfilment of promise, the reward of faith and intelligent effort. This vision adds a new meaning to the majestic words of the ancient Hebrew prophet and poet, when he says: " There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountain; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon; and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.’ ’ # # # The Genesis of the corn plant is shrouded in the mystery of creation. It was called Indian corn probably by common consent and usage by the first white man who came in con- tact with it for the same reason that the Aborigines of this country were called Indians. Columbus started on his great western voyage with the purpose of sailing to India and hav- ing sailed till he reached the shore, he naturally imagined he had found India and called the wondering natives that he met, Indians and as they were the primitive farmers who were then raising corn, he naturally named it Indian corn. While the origin of the plant is surrounded by mystery, its actual existence as a food plant, is well authenticated by the records of the world, extending over many centuries. At the time of the discovery of America, its cultivation as a domestic cereal, was extensive over the whole western conti- nent. It was among the first objects that attracted the atten- tion of those who landed upon our shores. In A. D. 1002, it is recorded that Thorwald, brother of Lief, saw wooden cribs for corn upon the Mingen Islands, and Karlsefn in 1006 and Thor- wald also saw and brought aboard their ship, ears of corn from the portion of land that is now called Massachusetts. Columbus found it cultivated extensively in Hayti on his first western voyage in 1492. Iii 1498 reported his brother having passed through eighteen miles of cornfields on the Isthmus. Magellan was able to supply his ships with corn from Rio Janeiro in 1520 and after that American explorers mentioned this corn from Columbus’ time to that of the arrival of the French at Montreal in 1535. De Soto landed in Florida in 578 1539 and speaks of fields of corn, beans and pumpkins that they found there in great abundance. In 1605, Champlain found fields of corn at the mouth of the Kennebec river and Hudson in 1609 saw a great quantity of maize along the river now known as the Hudson. Captain Miles Standish relates that when the Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, they found about five hun- dred acres of ground that showed the evidence of a former corn crop and that later they discovered a cache where the crop was stored. It was this maize that carried the; colony safe- ly through the first long and dreary winter and when spring came, they began to plant the new plant themselves. " We set the last spring some twenty acres of Indian corne and sowed some six acres of barley and peas; our corne would prove well and God be praised, we had a good increase. , We will note that Miles did not send the good John Aid en, to plant this field or deputize him to write the report of it. All of which proves that Miles Standish was a better and more efficient officer in the commissary department than he was a lover. The Indians at that time knew the value of applying fertilizers to their fields. In Mexico, they used ashes for this purpose ; the Peruvians used bird guano, gathered from the small islands off the coast and went so far as to protect the bird and assure the supply, by putting to death anyone who disturbed them during their nesting season. The North American In- dian, used dead fish as a fertilizer; the Plymouth colonist were taught by the Indians: “Both ye manner how to set your corne and after how to dress and tend it, and were also told, except they gather fish and set with ye corne in old grounds, it would come to nothing.” This makes plain to us how hard it is now to raise a corn crop in classic old New England, com- pared with the fat fields of Illinois. The point of origin of this plant is left practically to an unaided guess by the botanists based upon the characteristics of it and its apparent development. There is no doubt that In- dian corn originated in America. At the discovery of the west- ern hemisphere ; it had been in cultivation so long, that many of its forms, had reached nearly the perfection they have to- day. There is the same difficulty in positively identifying its progenitor as in the case of many prehistoric vegetables now West End of Reid House on Homestead Farm. 579 cultivated for food by men. It probably originated in Para- guay, or on the upper plateau of Mexico and subsequently de- veloped into its present form and productive usefulness. Corn is so essential to the life and welfare of the native tribes of North America, that it has formed the basis of their religion; the subject of their songs, and the object of their prayers to deity. Corn has now become the greatest crop raised on the western hemisphere and we may say with con- fidence, in the world. It employes more acres and more in- dustry than any other crop, amounting in the aggregate to nearly if not quite, as much as they devote to wheat, oats, rye, barley, buckwheat and cotton, combined. In its culture, harvesting and feeding it provides more employment for men than all other agricultural staples, yet in my study of this subject, I have been profoundly impressed by the remarkable fact that I find in the books, in examining a standard en- cyclopedia, I made the startling discovery that the subject of Corn occupied ten lines, while the subject of Cotton in the same volume occupied five pages and a colored chart. Where- upon I concluded that cotton as king of vegetable life, was a matter of much emphasis and proclamation, but that corn as king, was a matter of sturdy presistent, practical fact. # # # James L. Reid, was a citizen of Tazewell County and per- formed a noble and unselfish work in the development of a strain of corn which has given him and the county, world wide fame. He was a son of Robert and Anna Moore Reid. He was born near Russelville, Brown County, Ohio, December 26, 1844. His parents with their family, consisting of their son, James L. Reid, and their daughter, Mary Reid, came to Taze- well County in the State of Illinois in the spring of 1846, and commenced farming on Delavan Prairie in that year. With their party, was a cousin William Reid and his family, who settled in Mercer County. Robert Reid the father was the last of a family of five sons, who left Ohio in response to the call of “The West.” His older brother Daniel had preceded him to Delavan Prairie, his sister Eleanor Reid Glaze with her family had previously settled near Tremont in Tazewell County and two brothers, Davis and James Reid had prev- iously located near La Fayette, in the State of Indiana. 580 Daniel Eeid had previously sent word to his brother Robert to bring with him seed corn, as Illinois had no corn to com- pare with the Ohio variety which the family had before that grown. Eobert therefore made space in his covered wagon for a few bushel of yellow corn, known as the Gordon Hopkins in the State of Ohio, their former home. This was a yellow corn having a peculiar copperish red tint below the surface of the kernels, but not red corn as many people, not acquainted with the facts have thought. The ears were small and very taper- ing. The kernels were small and inclined to be flinity. This variety was rather late in maturing. Eobert Eeid, the father with his family located on a rented farm about four miles northeast of Delavan and there the seed corn he had brought with him was planted in the year 1846 on ground already prepared by his brother Daniel. Owing to the lateness of the date of planting crop, that year it made only a fairly good development with many immatured ears. The best of the matured corn was selected for the next year’s planting and the result was a poor stand of corn in the spring of 1847. The field was replanted with a small yellow corn found in the neighborhood, the missing hills being put in with a hoe. From the spring of 1847 until the present date, this corn has not»been purposely mixed with any other variety by the Eeid family, although grown by them and their de- scendants annually up to the season of 1918, a consecutive period of seventy-two years. In the year 1850, Eobert Eeid bought a farm two and a half miles northeast of Delavan, described as the northwest quarter of Section 2, Town. 22, range 4 west of the 3rd P. M. It was upon this farm that the seed of the Ohio variety re- ceived special care for fifty-one consecutive years, the father Eobert Eeid, keeping it pure, preventing it being mixed with other varieties and the son James devoting his especial atten- tion to developing the strain in order to meet the needs of the commercial world. He was assisted by his brother John and his sister Mary, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood on this place. James L. Eeid, when a mere lad, learned to follow the plow, select seed corn and developed a knowledge of farm management. He was the product of the soil, the guidance and example of his father Eobert and not of the Robert Reid — 1887. 581 schools or universities. He early grasped the vision of how much could be accomplished for his fellow-countrymen by the development of the character of crops raised to feed the world. By the example of his father, he was impressed that diligence and excellence were the essentials of farm work. His father taught him to read when he was four years old. He had his early schooling in the district school and from there, he at- tended the academy at Tremont conducted by James Kellogg. It was one of the early means of education established in the new country. Early in life, he became a student of the Bible and of the spiritual lessons they taught. He learned the won- derful truth that it is possible for man, the creature to put his hand in the hand of the Father and be led in the secrets of Nature to make it more abundantly productive. During the winter and spring of the year 1865, James L. Reid became a teacher in Tazewell County. During that time, he taught the Heaten School in the neighboring township of Boynton. Fol- lowing this teaching engagement, he began farming on his own account near Boynton Center. In April 1870, he was married to Marietta Jenks, daugh- ter of George and Henrietta Jenks of Tremont. It is apparent that while attending the Academy at Tremont, his attention was not exclusively devoted to the pursuit of letters. From 1865 to 1880, James L. Reid gave special attention to the development of Reid’s Yellow Dent Corn, raising that variety himself exclusively and endeavoring to induce his neighbors to cultivate the same variety. In 1880, he yielded to the siren voice calling him to Kansas and moved with his family to a farm in Osage County in that State. There he en- deavored to grow Reid’s Yellow Dent Corn by the Illinois method. He continued the struggle until 1888. The hot winds of August and September of that year, proved fatal to the crop and he returned to Illinois and took up his residence on the home farm of his father and there continued his work of de- veloping yellow dent corn. His father, Robert Reid removed from the home farm to Delavan in the fall of 1880, where he resided until the time of his death, which occurred in Decem- ber, 1888. When Robert Reid removed to Delavan, he rented his farm to Mr. John Withrow, who occupied it for seven years and continued to raise Reid’s Yellow Dent on the home farm 582 during that time. During the tenancy of Mr. Withrow, the loss of the strain of Yellow Dent Corn being developed, was seriously threatened, in the neighborhood of Reid’s farm on account of an early freeze many farmers lost their seed and Mr. Withrow with others, purchased corn shipped from the State of Missouri. When the corn was received and they com- pared it with the corn in his own crib, the landlord and tenant, decided to discard the imported seed, and planted yel- low dent corn selected from the open crib, producing a good crop. Mr. Withrow was no exception to the general rule among tenant farmers. He continued to grow corn consecu- tively on the Reid farm, until it was almost “corned to death”, when James Reid came back to his father’s farm in 1888, he had before him the problem of re- vitalizing and re- claiming the old place. He at once established a system of crop rotations, procured a herd of jersey cattle and fed much of his crop on the land. After he had brought his father’s farm back to corn producing life and possibilities, he began a systematic development of yellow dent corn from the home- grown strain. The type of corn chosen was an ear of medium size, more cylindrical in form than the early type, with rather a smooth surface, deep indented grain, bright red cob and clear yellow kernels. Considerable attention was given to development of well filled butts, and tips, with deep kernels, later the ears were roughened more and care was given to the characteris- tics of corn stalks producing the crop. Much stress was laid upon the thorough maturity of the crop and absolute freedom from all appearance of mixture. While he maintained a single type of kernel characteristic for show ears, as de- manded by exhibitors. When it come to seed selection for the corn crop, he chose the ears of corn that showed a high per cent of corn to the ear, regardless of kernel, shape and type of dent. These are facts that have been controverted by various amateur corn’ breeders. In the development of the characteristics which James L. Reid considered to be of the greatest importance to farmers, he worked consistently and untiringly. Gradually, under improved soil conditions, the type of corn responded to the efforts made for its develop- ment, and within a few years the yield in bushels per acre in some fields, reached the one hundred mark. James L. Reid KAST LYNN, VKKM1LION COUNTY, ILLINOIS KOUMKKI.Y UK LA VAN*. ILLINOIS HHKKDKK (UK I Rbid’s Yellow Dent Corn - ’ AMI AIKMHKK ILLINOIS COKX HKKKIlKKS’ ASSOCIATION Reid’s Yellow Dent Corn. 583 It became the custom to gather several bushels of splen- did ears from the fields early in the fall. The best looking ones were used for exhibition purposes and the rest kept for a part of home stock. . In 1891 James L. Eeid made a corn exhibition consisting of twelve ears at the Illinois State Fair in Peoria and then and’ there, received the highest award. This was his first in- troduction outside of his home county, and brought James L. Eeid the first recognition of the work he had performed. Mr. Orange Judd, editor of the Orange Judd Farmer, and former editor of the American Agriculturist, was present and was one of the judges, passed on that corn exhibit. Mr. Judd measured and weighed each ear examined them all carefully, and shelled a part of them in order to determine the percent- age of corn to the bulk of the cob in the ear. Two years later in the famous World’s Fair year 1893, James L. Eeid made an exhibition of Eeid’s Yellow Dent Corn at that ex- position. Which won for him the highest "score a medal and a diploma. A brief history of the corn, its genesis and de- velopment under the name of Eeid’s Yellow Dent, accom- panied that exhibit. In 1893, Mr. Eeid established a retail mail order seed corn trade. The corn was sent to many growers in Illinois, and neighboring States ; State colleges of agriculture carried on experiments covering several years. Shipments were sent North, East South and West, also to South America. Eeports of yields in different parts of the country proved the corn to be adaptable to varying conditions of soil, temperature, and length of growing season. The business of the produc- tion of this seed corn promises to increase a larger farm on which to grow corn, seemed necessary. Only a comparative small portion of crop on the home farm, was put on the seed market. This, however, required a great deal of labor, time and capital. A larger farm would mean more seed corn, better facilities for handling the crop and possibly a better price for seed. In 1902 the larger farm purchased the year previously, was made the home for the family of James L. Eeid and the scene of his developing business. It was located in Vermilion County, Illinois, near East Lynn. In time a large seed house and corn crib were built, including an ele- 584 vator ran by gasoline power and geared to run slowly, so that seed ears might be selected from the crop at corn husking time, was installed. All corn intended for seed was again hand-selected and stored where it would thoroughly dry. Under his management, early in the spring a great portion of his seed was given a germination test. High protein and high oil strains of corn was developed in cooperation with the State Experiment Station at the University of Illinois. Mr. Reid developed ears showing under test, as high as 16.85 per cent protein. His high tension program of growing corn eight months of the year and caring for the seed crop during the remaining four months, was exceedingly trying to the health of a strong man. In January, 1910, Mr. Reid took his first rest. He spent a few weeks in Florida with beneficial results. In January, 1910, his health being considerably impaired, he again sought the benefits of a Florida climate, but the winter was cold and conditions unfavorable. He returned to his home at East Lynn in May and on the first-day of June, 1910, he passed to his reward. His life work finished. In the fall of 1910, Doctor L. H. Smith, Professor of Plant Breeding in the University of Illinois, and Mr. W. G. Griffith of McNall, Illinois, selected seed from the^ last corn crop grown from James L. Reid’s seed corn selection. This crop had been produced by his son Bruce Reid. It was their plan and purpose to keep up as near as possible, the strain of Reid’s Yellow Dent. Up to the present date their purpose has been realized. The widow, Marietta Reid, has continued to grow corn from the 1910 crop, in order to keep it for the future needs of the grand-children of James L. Reid, Harry and Virgil, who seem to be developing agri- cultural tastes. In his lifetime, James L. Reid was director of the Illinois Seed Corn Breeders Association; a member of the Illinois Corn Growers Association, was also a member of the Top Notch Farmers’ Club. In 1908 he accepted an invitation from J. Wilkes Jones of Lincoln, Illinois and manager of the National Corn Exposi- tion at Omaha, Nebraska, to attend the big corn show. Mr. Jones gave him most generous public recognition of his a o c a o 3 CO o c a ■8 c 585 achievements in developing and distributing “Reid’s Yellow Dent.” He introduced him as the man who had put more mil- lions into the pockets of the corn belt farmers, than any other living man. While corn was the special medium through which his life found expression, yet all lines of farm work, home life, and community betterment, received an impetus for good through his work and influence. He was quiet and reserved in his manner; a generous, faithful friend; a public spirited citizen and a man of big faith in eternal truths. “No life can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife and all life not be purer and stronger thereby.”
"
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I think all foods in there whole form, or as minimally processed as possible, are okay. My main interest in learning more about higher nutrient varieties is mostly about efficiency. I would like to provide a large percentage of my families nutritional needs from my own land, and varieties with significantly more nutrition, calories, of protein seem like they would make that task easier.
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Your not wrong to feel like that in my opinion Omega 3 & the link to vitamins and minerals from produce
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i do eat some. probably not as much as i should. im more into different fruits instead. 
the fact that i can eat something that’s more nutritionally dense than what’s at the store makes more sense for me than someone that eats mainly vegetables all the time. plus, as you know the taste is also superior. they did taste tests between the heirloom and hybrid tomatoes in that pbs show and everyone surveyed picked the heirloom tomato hands down. most of the veggies i grow is to process into something else like homemade spaghetti sauce, salsa and root vegs like beets, carrots, turnips and potatoes. i leave the leafy greens to the chics. they dont care if the plant bolts.
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All things equal people choose nutritious foods everytime. It is equally as important to be outside working hard harvesting and planting to keep our health up. Getting a great nights sleep is also the most important thing of all in my opinion. Water is the biggest health food of all and i’m a huge believer that coffee is as well. Tea is definately healthy in moderation.
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I can answer the question re low nutritional content in modern maize hybrids. A farmer gets paid by tons of corn produced. He cares not one whit whether it has protein or high oil content or any other thing so long as it produces the maximum dry weight.
Now consider metabolic cost of producing a kernel of corn. Highest cost goes to protein and oil. Lowest cost goes to starch. Corn has 2 kinds of starch, soft and hard. Hard starch is dense and heavy. Breeding programs over the last 150 years focused mainly on increasing starch content at the expense of protein and oil. Which gets us to today where corn typically produces between 150 and 230 bushels per acre of very dense and heavy starch.
But what about protein? I found an inbred line in GRIN about 15 years ago that produces 50% more methionine than commercial corn. I crossed it with Cherokee Squaw and fed to my chickens resulting in a 10% increase in egg laying. It supplies a much more balanced amount of protein than commercial corn which bumps up egg laying rate. Commercial chicken feed has synthetic methionine added to boost the amount of this critical nutrient to a level chickens can handle.
What about high oil? About 15 years ago, someone brought back an ear of corn from North Korea which supposedly had been selected for high oil content. University professors and commercial breeders pooh poohed the idea that anyone had bred a line of corn with more oil than the Illinois high oil strains. Well they tested the Korean corn and it was nearly double the oil content of the Illinois high oil inbred lines. Genetic testing revealed differences so great that they were almost a different plant. More important, crossing the Korean corn with American high production inbred lines resulted in a very highly productive high oil corn.
Key takeaway, there is a huge metabolic cost in producing high protein and high oil maize. Farmers don’t get paid for protein or oil, they get paid by weight. Sandhill Preservation sells “Chicken” corn which is the high methionine line I bred several years ago. It is significantly better as a food source for chickens, but is nowhere near as productive as commercial hybrids.
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i totally agree with you guys about processed food, sugar and soda are very bad. but like you said it even depends in the quality of ingredients in said processed food. ive read accounts of comparing a frozen pizza ingredients in the u.s and another in Canada. the one in Canada that follows European standards for food quality is 2xs as nutritious as the American one. why i do most of my food shopping in Canada. unfortunately, you cant bring fresh produce across so i grow most of mine instead or buy from farmers markets here. why cant the u.s.d.a use those standards here?
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im growing painted mountain corn, bloody butcher dent and atomic orange corn. all have come from crossing a bunch of native indian corn from all over the country. ill use most for cornmeal and chic supplements in winter. i believe all 3 have a higher protein/ antioxidant content and are very easy to grow compared to hybrid corn. very drought tolerant even on subpar soils. they dont produce as much per acre but also grow with little inputs. i grew painted mountain for the 1st time 3 years ago. i grew them on a section of lawn i tilled the fall before. no amendments. i planted june 13th. june 24th. we got a late frost that got down to 27f. my corn was 1in. tall. didnt lose a single plant. then we had a moderate drought that summer. where i planted them i didnt have access with the hose so they got minimal water. instead of hoeing them i mulched with old chic manure. at harvest they had completely full cobs. the corn tasted good at milk stage for a flint corn and excellent as cornmeal. the stalks only got 4-5ft and had big cobs for the size of the plant. rareseeds didnt mentioned methionine content but i bet if tested would probably have a good bit. people irked out a survival in the desert southwest growing similar types of corn in terribly poor sandy soil in a very dry environment, so it had to be very nutritious for them to live on so little amounts of it. though these corns are only half as productive as hybrid corn, i think its worth it for everyone to try it. the atomic orange is the best flavored for cornmeal so far and the color of the cornbread was amazing. ive bought seed of several more of the improved crosses of indian bred corn and am looking forward to comparing them all.
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Most open pollinated corn runs between 10% and 20% more protein (generic meaning, all different protein types) than commercial corn. However, the inbred line I used was 50% more Methionine and increased lysine. No open pollinated corn is anywhere close to 50% improvement of these two very specific and very much needed proteins. You are correct re better nutritional content for most open pollinated corn, but incorrect in specific terms of Methionine and Lysine. If you want to grow an open pollinated corn with significantly better general protein content, find some Wapsi Valley. If you specifically want higher methionine and lysine, get some of the Chicken corn from Sandhill.
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