"Corn was unknown to the Europeans before they met the Indians. Indians gave them the seeds and taught them how to grow it. Today in the U.S.A., more farm land is used to grow corn (60 million acres) than any other grain. "

Every year this time in the Midwest for two or three weeks there is a frenzy of activity everywhere you look. All at once the fields are bursting with movement...from early morning to late in the evening many times up to midnight. A bond between the farmer and Nature has always existed...a very fine balance between a gut feeling and science.

When farmers take their corn to the massive grain silos and elevators to sell...their wages are paid according to the weight of the corn. High tech monitors are used to detect the moisture in the corn...the great the moisture...the greater the weight. The farmer is docked for high moisture content in order to approximate that actual weight of the corn being delivered. So the balancing act continues...does the farmer wait that extra week to let the corn dry more? What if it rains...he looses the bet.

A couple of weeks ago during a photo shoot...Zach and I were discussing this very issue. As we looked out over the fields while driving...it occurred to us that due to the intense competition of the Con Agras against the family farm...most of today's farmers are college graduates with a B/S. Farming has now become much more of a science than a gut feeling.