My grandfather, Edward began raising vegetables in Accord, NY around the turn of the century. He grew much of the same crops we grow today with the acception that he grew quite a lot of storage vegetables for winter consumption such as cabbage, onions and carrots. Unlike today, back then there were no refrigerated truck to move produce north from the warmer climates of the country; season eating wasn’t a fad, it was a nessessity. Even then sweet corn grown in the Rondout Valley was a prized commodity. 

It was picked into paper bags, 50 ears per bag, a block of ice from the icehouse was put in the top of the bag, the bag was closed and carefully stacked on rack trucks bound for markets often New York City. This prevented the load of corn from heating up on the long trip. 

There is a chemical reaction that takes place in an ear of sweet corn after it’s been picked. The sugars produced in the kernals begin to change to starch producing a corn seed, the starch in the seed helps feed the seedling in the ground as it produces a shoot and roots before it begins to derive nourishment from the groud. Heat is a byproduct of this reaction, the ice in the bag slowed this reaction and helped to maintain the sugars in the corn long enough for the corn to reach the consumer. If the truck was to breakdown enroute or have to wait too long before unloading the load would heat up, the corn would be ruined and in extreme cases were known to catch on fire. A farmers ability to cut and store ice was the limiting factor to how much corn a farmer could grow.

My father, Gordon began farming much the same way. As demand grew for our sweet corn he turned to an ice company that cut large quantities of ice from the lakes in the winter and stored it in insulated warehouses at the Binnewater Lake Ice Company in Kingston NY. Access to commercial ice enabled farmers like my father in the Rondout Valley to grow more corn.

It wasn’t until the 1940s when the refrigerated trailer truck drastically changed the landscape of farming. Now farmers could specialize in the crops that grew best in thier region and ship it anyway in the 48 states and Canada. For the Rondout Valley it was sweet corn, by the sixties there were over a dozen sweet corn farms and over 6000 acres being produced and shipped. Many of the local farmstand in the valley today have their roots in the sweet corn business of the sixties and seventies. Today my brother and I farm I farm in a similar scale to my grandparents. We grow 150 acres of vegetables half of which is sweet corn.

The modern corn is a little different however, through hybirdazation (not genetic engineering) seed producers have drastically slowed the reaction of sugar to starch and increased the sugar content of the corn. That makes it so that corn can be more easily shipped, stored in a warehouse, spend a couple days in your refrigerator and still be delicious. You may have noticed that in June you can buy wonderful tasting sweet corn from the south. Where 30 years ago that ear would likely be starchy calling for a lot of butter and salt. The bar is higher but the Rondout Valley still seems to grow a premium ear of corn. I hear it from my customers at the farmstand and our wholesale customers; ‘you guys grow the best sweet corn I ever tasted’.

I must admit I don’t know exactly why it’s so, but I’m convinced it is so and it’s my hope that my family will be able to produce a delicious ear of corn for many years to come.