Corn, Corn, Corn!
Environment
George and Billy
Miscellaneous
Cool Facts
100
What is the price of a bushel of corn?
A dollar less than the cost to grow it.
100
Name one effect Nitrogen has on the environment.
eg. pollution, runoff, hypoxic zones due to increased algae growth, global warming
100
Where does George live?
Iowa
100
What is a GMO?
Genetically Modified Organisms
100
Who purchased 30 million tons of American grain?
Russia
200
What is monoculture?
Planting only one type of crop.
200
What was a byproduct of World War II?
Using ammonium nitrate and pesticides on the crops
200
How many acres is George’s farm?
470 acres
200
What is yield measured in?
Bushels per acre
200
How did Earl L. Butz lose the 1976 election?
A racist joke
300
What is the plague that was mentioned several times in this chapter?
The plague of cheap corn.
300
What kind of chemical fertilizer are they using instead of manure?
Ammonium Nitrate
300
What does George grow alongside his corn?
Soybeans
300
What were used in the past instead of tractors?
Horses
300
Approximately how many American’s does George’s farm feed?
129
400
How did farmers keep their land from getting ‘Corn Sick’?
Crop rotations, usually with legumes.
400
What is the blue baby alert?
When there is increased nitrogen runoff and it is not safe for parents to give their children water from the tap
400
Who is Billy?
George’s neighbor
400
What are the new seeds called?
Pioneer Hi-Bred’s 34H31, hybrid (F-1 hybrids)
400
What percentage of Iowa’s landscape remains the same as it used to be?
2%
500
What is the interesting nickname Pollan gives to corn in this chapter?
“a welfare queen”
500
What is the process of taking atoms from the atmosphere and combining them into molecules useful to living things?
“fixing” nitrogen
500
What kind of tractor does George drive?
1975 International Harvester tractor
500
How were legumes connected to the fertility of the land?
They aided the fixation of nitrogen into the soil
500
What kind of meat started showing up in certain markets after the inflation rate for groceries reached an all-time high in 1973?
Horse meat
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