The week of October 7-11, 2024, was all about corn in Bismarck! In celebration of Farm to School month, several partners teamed up to bring corn education to students throughout the area, ending with an exciting corn crunch off at a local high school football game.

Students Already Loved Corn

The excitement started even before Corn Takeover week. On September 30, 2024, during Fresh from North Dakota School Lunch Day, Bismarck Public Schools served 4,331 ears of local corn on the cob from Vulcan Farms. The local corn was a huge hit with students, and they were ready to learn more.

Educational Week

The North Dakota Corn Utilization Council, Bismarck Public Schools, the North Dakota Department of Agriculture (NDDA), and the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI) worked together to bring corn education to 600 third- and fourth-grade students at eight elementary schools.

Staff from NDDA and NDDPI visited classrooms in person to talk about corn and play a fun game of corn Jeopardy.

What Students Learned

Students discovered:

  • The three types of corn grown in North Dakota: field corn, sweet corn, and popcorn
  • North Dakota primarily produces field corn
  • Products made from field corn include ethanol, sweeteners, corn syrup, animal feed, and plastics
  • How to make their own biodegradable corn plastic (they took home recipes!)

The ND Corn Utilization Council provided all students with corn mystery readers and corn niblets to continue learning about corn in the classroom.

Friday Night Football Finale

The week ended with a crunch off event at the Bismarck High School versus Legacy High School football game on Friday, October 11 at the Bismarck Community Bowl.

As fans entered the stadium, they were greeted by the ND Corn Utilization Council’s mascot “Bob the Cob.” An Ag in the Classroom booth near the entrance provided information about corn and how agriculture supports sports.

Each person received a package of corn niblets with instructions to save them until halftime for the massive corn crunch off – creating a stadium-wide celebration of North Dakota corn!

The Bismarck Corn Takeover successfully combined education and fun to teach students and families about the important role corn plays in North Dakota agriculture.