As the sun rises on central Iowa the quiet can be deceiving.

Look closer. Hidden among the rows of towering corn stalks is the frantic morning ritual of the summer sweet corn harvest. Row by row, farm workers look for the best ears of corn. And not far away another hunt for the sweetest corn is taking place by Iowans like Linda Bergstrom who insist that Iowa corn is the best.

For many, roadside stands like ones near Des Moines are the place to find that homegrown corn. “That’s one reason why I stop at the roadsides,” says Linda. “I assume that they are going to pick it that morning and bring it out fresh.”

She’s right. Like roadside stands all across the state, that corn she bought was picked just hours earlier at this central Iowa farm.

Behind the scenes of the field-to-table process are farmers like Ron Deardorff. Thirty eight years ago Deardorff started growing traditional crops like soybeans and field corn. That’s the corn that can be found on farms across the state, not for eating, but used in grain processing and as animal feed. In 1985 Deardorff experimented with sweet corn. He recalls that “we just planted a fourth of an acre, three different varieties so it matured at different times. Put an ad in the paper. Sold a little corn and people would come out to the farm and get some.”

Today, Iowans don’t come to Deardorff’s farm for corn. He delivers it to them! In early July, weeks before Iowa’s field corn harvest is underway, Ron Deardorff is picking and selling about 18,000 ears of his sweet corn to vendors and area grocery stores each and every day.

What makes sweet corn different from "regular" corn is its much higher sugar content. To preserve that fresh, sweet taste, timing is critical. You can pick it too early, where it hasn’t developed and doesn’t have the flavor yet. Or you can pick it too late, where it’s getting tough and the sugar is turning to starch. So finding that optimum window in the middle is very important. And once picking gets underway it’s not about timing. It’s about speed! That starts in the field where the picked corn goes into buckets and from the buckets to burlap sacks on the wagon. When it comes up from the field, it’s all been sorted, counted and bagged.

Ron Deardorff relies heavily on hired help to take on this labor-intensive daily effort. After the pickers come in from the field, it’s up to drivers like Mark Mills and Dwight Sage. These long-time farm workers make sure that the bags of corn make it to Des Moines grocery stores before yesterday’s supply is gone. Ron’s wife Becky’s work filling orders completes this family operation. He says there’s no secret to his success: just timing, picking the right corn variety to plant, and hard work. And it’s paying off: in steady business for Ron and lots of customer satisfaction. Even if they don’t know exactly where it grows, Iowa’s corn consumers tend to agree that Iowa corn really is the sweetest and the best.

Additional information:
Iowa offers plenty of visitor attractions. Visit www.traveliowa.com for information about the entire state and www.iowatourism.org for sites specific to central Iowa.