How corn is grown and harvested
A big cob can carry up to 1200 kernels packed in rows, and every one of them started as a strand of silk.
- stations
- 3
- things downstream
- 364
The short version
Corn is planted in spring because it cannot tolerate cold, and it grows into a stalk several meters tall. Wind carries pollen from the tassel to the silks on each ear, and every silk produces one kernel. For grain, a combine picks the ears and shells the kernels once they have dried in the field.
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Plant after the frost
Corn is cold-intolerant, so in temperate zones it goes in during spring. Its roots are shallow, so the plant leans heavily on soil moisture, and it is most sensitive to drought just as the silks appear.
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Pollinate by wind
The tassel at the top releases pollen, and wind carries it down to the ears. Each plant carries separate male and female flowers. Kernels grow in 8 to 32 rows around a cob, and a large cob can carry up to 1200 of them.
up to 1200 kernels per cob
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Pick and shell the ears
Grain corn can stand in the field for months after it matures. A picker takes the whole ear, and a separate sheller strips the kernels from the cob. Sweet corn is picked much earlier, at the milk stage, 60 to 100 days after planting.
Worth repeating
- More corn is grown each year, by weight, than any other grain.
- Before 1940, most North American corn was harvested by hand, often at social gatherings called husking bees.
- Because corn is a C4 plant, it uses water more efficiently than alfalfa or soybeans.
Where it comes from
- United States31.0% of world output
- China22.4%
2020, share of the 1.16 billion tonnes of maize produced worldwide.
Where it goes next
Corn feeds 12 lines directly and reaches 364 things in total.
Further down the line
Keep walking
Sources
Cite this page: "How corn is grown and harvested." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/corn