America's Heartland - Episode 321

Episode 321 - Kernel Potential
	Iowa sweet corn in the summer, it’s hard to beat! But some farmers in Iowa are thinking about chemistry as well as taste. Working with engineers and researchers at Iowa State University, they’re developing corn kernels whose chemistry can be altered to make the starch inside digest slower. That could alter the insulin response and the release of glucose into the bloodstream. And that could be a benefit for the 21 million diabetics in the United States

Want to know more?
One of the earliest pioneers to apply science to farming was Jethro Tull. He invented the seed drill in 1701 making it possible to sow seeds in uniform rows. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in the 1790's. What followed was a dramatic expansion of cotton production. By the late 1800's new developments in equipment and planting had more than cut in half...the number of hours it took to raise 100 bushels of corn.

Links
Iowa Farm Bureau
Iowa Department of Agriculture

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The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, Farm Credit, and the United Soybean Board make presentation of America's Heartland possible.

Additional production and promotion assistance is provided by
The American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council, U.S. Grains Council,
National Association of Wheat Growers, and the National FFA Organization.