| Corn Belt | |
| Settlement Type: | Agricultural or cultural region of the United States |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Subregion |
| Subdivision Type2: | Subregion |
| Subdivision Type4: | Country |
| Subdivision Name4: |  United States |
| Subdivision Type5: | States |
| Subdivision Name5: | |
The Corn Belt is a region of the Midwestern United States and part of the Southern United States that, since the 1850s, has dominated corn production in the United States. In North America, corn is the common word for maize. More generally, the concept of the Corn Belt connotes the area of the Midwest dominated by farming and agriculture, though it stretches down into the South as well reaching into Kentucky.[1] [2]
There is lack of consensus regarding the constituents of the Corn Belt, although it often includes Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, southern Michigan, western Ohio, eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, southern Minnesota, and parts of Missouri.[3] It also sometimes includes South Dakota, North Dakota, all of Ohio, Wisconsin, all of Michigan, and Kentucky.[4] Some people and industries break the Corn Belt down even further and refer to it as the Eastern Corn Belt and the Western Corn Belt.[5]
The region is characterized by level land, deep fertile soils, and a high organic soil concentration.[6]
As of 2008, the top four corn-producing states were Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and Minnesota, accounting for more than half of the corn growth in the U.S.[7]
More recently, the Corn Belt was mapped at the county level using the Land use and Agricultural Management Practices web-Service (LAMPS),[8] along with animated maps of changes in time (2010–2016).[9]
On account of new agricultural technology developments between 1860 and 1970, the Corn Belt went from producing mixed crops and livestock into becoming an area focused strictly on wheat-cash planting. After 1970, increased crop and meat production required an export outlet, but global recession and a strong dollar reduced exports and created serious problems even for the best farm managers.[3]
In 1956, former Vice President Henry A. Wallace, a pioneer of hybrid seed, declared that the Corn Belt had developed the "most productive agricultural civilization the world has ever seen".[10]
Most corn grown today is fed to livestock, especially hogs and poultry. In recent decades, soybeans have grown in importance.
By 1950, 99% of corn has been grown from hybrids.
In 1997, the USEPA published its report on the United States' ecoregions, in part based on "land use". Its "Level III" region classification contains three contiguous "Corn Belt" regions, Western (47), Central (54), and Eastern (55), stretching from Indiana to eastern Nebraska.[11] [12]