Drive through rural Iowa in early August, and you’ll be surrounded by corn. Acre upon acre will be awash in the tall plants—a sea of green as far as you can see. But it’s not just Iowa in August: Corn is commonplace everywhere, every day, even if it’s not always visible.

The starched shirt you put on this morning owes its crispness to corn. Besides your corn flakes, corn elements are in your breakfast yogurt and cranberry juice, as well as your vitamins and medicines. Last night’s dinner could well have been cooked with corn oil. If you had meat, it came from an animal most certainly fed with cornmeal. When you brushed your teeth afterward, guess what was in the toothpaste?

Photo courtesy of iStock, Vitalii Petrushenko

Uses of Corn

Corn is an important substance in our daily lives. Its production, harvesting, and processing are big business in the United States. There are an estimated 500 different uses for corn. Besides food products, corn is used in:

• Plastics
• Packing materials
• Insulating materials
• Adhesives
• Chemicals
• Explosives
• Paint
• Paste
• Abrasives
• Dyes
• Insecticides
• Pharmaceuticals
• Organic acids
• Solvents
• Rayon
• Antifreeze
• Soaps
• Alcohol

Corn’s Global Conquest

As food sources go, corn is a relative newcomer. Archaeologists believe rice and wheat were harvested as far back as 30,000 years ago. Corn didn’t take its place among edible plants until about 9,000 years ago, when inhabitants of southern Mexico began to cultivate it.

Despite the big head start that wheat and rice enjoyed, corn now leads the pack of the Big Three Grains. One of the advantages corn has over other grains is that each plant contains a higher percentage of usable material.

Corn is a domesticated crop; it depends on humans to reproduce. Exactly how and when that started is not clear. But corn’s origins are in the Americas—it didn’t make its way to Europe until Christopher Columbus brought it back to Spain in the late 15th century.

While information is spotty, it’s clear that corn was key—probably the most important cultivated crop—for thousands of years in the Americas before Columbus’ arrival. The corn-growing areas stretched from what is now North Dakota to current-day Argentina and Chile.

Photo courtesy of iStock, fotokostic

Early Seeds of Industrial Use

In the U.S., corn began to play a starring role in the laundering process in the mid-19th century. Though wheat was originally the primary source of starch, in the 1840s a chemist working in New York found a way to use corn instead. His employer switched the company’s starch-making plant from using wheat to using corn. The employer’s name was William Colgate, whose company later made toothpaste.

While starch eventually would find its way into that toothpaste to give it texture and moisture, its main function was to make clothes stiffer for mid-19th-century Americans. But scientists soon found more ways to extract value from those kernels.

In 1866, they began extracting dextrose, the first corn-derived sweetener. Fifteen years later they found out how to manufacture refined corn sugar, or anhydrous sugar. Even so, those efforts focused only on making use of part of the corn kernel. Its fiber, germ, and protein had been tossed away. By 1882, corn refiners began using those proteinase portions—misleadingly called corn gluten feed—as food for cattle. A few years later, the corn manufacturing industry found it could extract oil from the germ.

Corn refining begins by first soaking corn in water, and even that substance ends up becoming valuable to refiners. By the turn of the century, operators learned how to condense the leftover water and extract its nutrients for feed products.

The refinement of starches and sweeteners continued to evolve. By the 1950s, the purification and crystallization of dextrose made corn a viable competitor to sugar in some markets. Then in 1967 came the big advancement for corn refiners: high fructose corn syrup. Initially, the fructose level wasn’t so high—only about 15%. But a year later it reached 42%, and by the mid-1980s, high fructose corn syrup became the predominant sweetener for the U.S. soda industry.

Photo courtesy of iStock, PRImageFactory

An Energy Alternative

In addition to corn’s appearances in your home and the supermarket, it’s likely to crop up whenever you fill up. Ethanol now creates the largest demand for corn in the U.S. But ethanol is a far older product than you might suspect.

Like other grains, corn can be fermented to create alcohol. The product of that fermentation, ethanol whiskey, is better known as “moonshine.” Early automakers saw the energy potential in ethanol, and the Ford Model T was designed to run on it. During World War II, the U.S. Army thought corn could be a supplemental fuel source for military machines and built the first ethanol plant in Nebraska. Once the war ended, gasoline was cheap and plentiful, so demand for corn-based fuels dried up.

With the oil embargoes of the 1970s, gas prices shot up, as did concerns that the U.S. was too dependent on other countries for its energy supplies. The abundance of corn and its readiness for transformation into alcohol made it the mainstay of the ethanol industry.

Varying corn prices made it hard to count on ethanol as a resource. So state and federal laws were passed to provide subsidies and add stability. While federal policy has called for an increased amount of biofuels in the future, corn is no longer viewed as the only source of ethanol. Other cellulosic feedstock sources are expected to meet more than half the total demand.

For more articles exploring the world and its industries, revisit our Boss Magazine issues.

Corn by the Numbers

According to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, the top 10 corn producers globally in 2025 were:

• U.S.: 432.34 million metric tons
• China: 301.24 million metric tons
• Brazil: 138 million metric tons
• Argentina: 63 million metric tons
• European Union: 56.8 million metric tons
• India: 55.09 million metric tons
• Ukraine: 30.9 million metric tons
• Mexico: 24.7 million metric tons
• South Africa: 18 million metric tons
• Canada: 14.87 million metric tons

Dixon Products for Agriculture

Dixon manufactures and supplies fittings and accessories used in a variety of applications within the agriculture industry, including fluid transfer, soil preparation and sowing, irrigation, harvesting, suction and discharge, and high and low-pressure washdown.

AG-Series Quick Disconnects

Details

• Available with poppet or ball style valve
• Couplers have a PTFE anti-extrusion ring
• Steel componentry is plated using RoHS compliant trivalent chrome
• Steel coupler sleeves are hardened to resist deformation and maximize service life

Specifications

• NPTF, NSPP, and ORB threads
• Nitrile rubber seals are standard
• Temperature range: -40°F to 250°F (-40°C to 121°C)

Worm Gear Clamps

Details

• Four-piece construction
• Band and housing: SAE 300-series stainless
• All clamps sold 10 per box

Specifications

• Maximum recommended torque: 50 in. lbs.
• Meets SAEJ1508, which supersedes Mil Spec WW-C-440B

Gauges

Details

• Standard dry and liquid-filled pressure gauges, compound pressure gauges, vacuum gauges, and welding gauges
• Lower and center back mount options

Polypropylene Fittings

Details

• 3/4” to 4”
• 1/2” couplers and adapters will interchange with 3/4” couplers and adapters; only the threads and barbs are 1/2”
• 1-1/4” couplers and adapters will interchange with 1-1/2” couplers and adapters; only the threads and barbs are 1-1/4”
• Not recommended for use with PTFE gaskets; polypropylene cam & groove should not be mixed with metal fittings

Cam & Groove

Details

• Precision machined to rigid tolerances
• Durable stainless steel cam arm pins will not rust or bind, providing greater strength and safety
• Recess holds gasket firmly in place - ensures proper placement
• King Crimp shank design as well as traditional shank design for banding is available

Summary

From food and fuel to manufacturing and agriculture, corn plays a far greater role in everyday life than most people realize. Its versatility has made it one of the world’s most important crops, supporting countless industries and applications. As agriculture continues to evolve, reliable fluid handling components remain essential for efficient operations. Dixon offers a wide range of products designed to meet the demands of agricultural applications, helping keep equipment and processes running safely and effectively.

For more information, visit dixonvalve.com or call 877.963.4966.