The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • 52

Farm THE FRESNO BEE Sunday June 23 1985 F8 Cornnuts Continued from Page FI Top Block aide forced to resign United Press International Hybridization allows giant grain to grow in hot valley Farms and Benny Yamane Farms are originally By LEO A DOLLAR Bee farm editor coastal farmers from the Salinas and Hollister regions who have taken up Fresno County acreage for this specialized production Smith reported Even at a total of 1000 acres the Commits hybrid is not a a Mg gun in crop production picture although its specialized usage and price put it well beyond the cash value pound for pound of the standard com varieties used for either human or livestock rations even fresh sweet com for eating hot and buttered off the cob The California Crop and Livestock Reporting Service roster carries it as a ion the state although CCLRS officials are quick to point out it calls for attentive management by the grower even though it often tops the 20-foot mark at the tassel end and will cany several ears of the Mg kernels Prior to the improvements which adapted the Mgjb-altitude Andean native grain to our valley riimah it was limited to coder more humid climates of coastal counties and the Midwest It still requires a long growing period But those Incas who once held a monopoly on this strange equatorial mountain crop be astonished at the Ida of their favorite com being grown thousands of miles north of the Equator in a valley only a few hundred feet above sea level and almost as hot as neighboring long stretched-out desert belt The tailor-made hybridized strain of white corn bred to adapt original giant grain with the Paul Bunyim-scale stalks and horsetooth-sized kernels has been Improved still further by plant breeders to thrive In the hot interior region climate of our San Joaquin Valley No longer must the' firm rely on cooler more humid climates for the specialized kernels it turns into Gonmuts Today four different farming ventures in the Firebaugh region maintain a total of 1000 acres of the new strain Ohio is still the Mg gun in the company's fieldgrowing operations but Mocks of 200-plus acres are a regular part of the farming scene in the old San Joaquin Riverbank town that west side pioneer-developer Henry Miller favored as one of his ranch bases tested our hybrids all over the valley and now most of the growing there is concentrated around Firebaugh observed Jerry Smith a half owner and executive secretary of the confection firms hybrid is well acclimatized to the valley Of the four ranches producing new hybrid only one the Diedrich Farms operated by brothers John and Jim is truly a local Firebaugh When the Peruvian corn shipments resumed in the early 1950s so did research on developing a hybrid that could grow elsewhere By 1965 the first hybrid Cornnuts were being grown in the Salinas Valley By 1969 the entire supply was grown in this country Cbnuiuts currently contracts with more than 30 growers in California and in Ohio where a complete growing-to-processing branch opened at Urbana in 1979 In California the huge hybrid is grown in several locations in the Salinas and the San Joaquin valleys It is dried and stored at Greenfield Monterey County an operation supervised by Rich Holloway The corn is processed skin removed kernels soaked to increase moisture and condition the starch then oil-roasted and salted in Oakland year-round On the cob Cornnuts corn is on the freakyJooking side It has flatfish slightly rippled kernels about four times the size of domestic white corn and growing in eight rows per ear compared to 16 for conventional corn Cornnuts sales have tripled in the past five years and though nationwide still are higher in western states Holloway said can still drive a lot of miles on the East Coast without seeing he said In the past couple of years Cornnuts went international although lamented Holloway is a terrible time to be doing that because of the strength of the Still he said the company has developed pretty substantial business" in Canada and toeholds in a number of other countries in the Pacific Rim and Europe Cornnuts is sold in supermarkets convenience stores newsstands and vending machines But thanks to the high-decibel crunch said Holloway never done very well in theaters" The company launched its first flavored Cornnuts in 1979 at the request of suppliers but without a lot of enthusiasm is corn in a rm more difficult to eat than a chip" said Holloway thought people put up with that because they like the flavor the way it was" But when the barbecue flavor was introduced was an instant success It was almost like people had been waiting for said Steven Burchik marketing vice president Two years ago a nacho flavor was launched then reformulated when it meet taste expectations It was expected to be popular with Hispanics and is But also a strong seller in areas lacking a large Hispanic population such as Wisconsin Farms A Sano patented a emu gene that can make any kind of snack com up to 30 percent more productive Called it produces more higher leaves as well as multiple ears it is being licensed to hybrid seed producers said Maurice Holloway Maurice and his brother Rich now head the firm Albert died some years ago So Cornnuts has come a long way But first Albert Holloway had a tough row to hoe Holloway who had managed the Sacramento Riding Gub a well-known equestrians group moved in the mid-193Qs to Oakland where he worked in real estate He happened to lease a building to some fellows expanding production of a com snack been making in a home kitchen Intrigued Holloway started putting money into the young firm Eventually he became sole owner Back then the market for Brown Jug Toasted Corn was almost exclusively children because the domestic corn used was small and when toasted very hard said Maurice Holloway real appeal of the Peruvian corn was that it expanded the market to adults because It was softer" he said After Albert Holloway saw the cartoon he had little trouble obtaining a sample of the odd Peruvian corn He had little but trouble for a long time after The giant corn when toasted was delicious But supplies were tight The corn was grown only in a small area with a one-of-a-kind environment The growing area near Cuzco was at an elevation above 8000 feet but so dose to the equator the temperature stayed between 50 to 70 degrees during the unusually long eight-month growing season Holloway grabbed all the corn he could and asked for more The Peruvians interested in growing it And the corn grow anywhere Ise Worse it was just before World WarIL was a terrible time to be going into this business with a new said Maurice Holloway was rationing on purging materials and cooking Ml What they got was based on 80 percent of what they had used in 1939 They got 80 percent of zero" Then the war cut off corn exports from Peru Albert Holloway went back to selling nickela-bag small hard corn to small-fry buyers operation The others Kishimura think maybe they like anything with cheese" in Wisconsin said Burchik Unsalted Cornnuts on the market six months was inspired by requests from customers on salt-free diets For the diet-conscious Commits has a calorie advantage over chip snacks because kernels absorb less cooking oil than chips do have maybe a 12 percent oil content whereas 35 to 40 percent for a said Holloway And com is a more nutritious snack than many he said But if it sounds as if say Commits is food" hold your breath want to be classified as a health food because health foods still tend to appeal to a fairly limited segment of the market" he said The company continues to explore new uses for its unusual com Said Holloway it make a good tortilla or a com chip? Or would it be a good source of starch a different starch composition Or would it make a good whiskey?" In the highly-competitive giant-dominated snack food industry the $20 million Cornnuts is a little David (hiking it out with a pack of Goliaths also an unusual company in several ways: Said Holloway though we are small we are vertically integrated from breeding our baric source material to parking the final product fairly unusual" Commits also is unusual in the food industry for being independently owned and having just one product And it has no direct competitors It would seem to be a tempting takeover prospect There have been offers though Holloway declined to say from whom have always discouraged interest on the part of other people" he said like the independence that we have" There used to be at least four competitors back in the Peruvian com days But they gave up because of the same supply problems Albert Holloway had had other places they could spend their money" Maurice Holloway said was more important for us to solve this problem than it was for Commits maintains an extensive WASHINGTON Christina: Mosher Wilson one of Agriculture Secretary John most loyal assistants resigned Friday underpressure sources said Wilson who began working for Block when he was Illinois director of agriculture moved to Washington' when he became agriculture secretary and served as liaison between Block and farm groups and other organizations Wilson had been the subject of an investigation by the Office of Inspector General of small contracts and a personnel matters for Ag in the Classroom a program that coordinates nationwide efforts to develop materials to teach elementary and secondary students about agriculture Sources said Block personally' called in Wilson and told her to resign closest aides refused to answer questions about the matter: referring calls to William Riley-director of personnel Wilson resigned this afternoon" Riley said She said her had accepted duties elsewhere" Her husband Ron Wilson is a former Senate Agriculture Committee staff member and a top official of the National Council of Fanner Cooperatives Riley said be met earlier in the day with the Wilsons and Randy Russell executive assistant who did not return telephone calls Asked why Russell was at his meeting Riley said question his presence" Sydney Beck of Pansey Ala president of Women Involved in Farm Economics said sort of at a loss to know what to say and really This 'month her group made Wilson an honorary member She said Wilson was one of the only people who was helpful within an Agriculture Department disarray" David Sentr national directin' of the American Agriculture Movement said have considered her one of the people we could deal with honestly and be dealt with fairly in He said Wilson had the best interest at heart" John Howhnann QU Kobift krm Long-term Ioann for 1000 to $550000 i be used for almost any business purpose: 7 years for working capital 10 years for equipment purchase 25 years for real estate acquisition All loans are fully amortized with no lender points or prepayment penalties For more information about our long-term business loans call John Konev ich (209) 252-4300 Rod StvbMafMd CUI Tom Sommers CLU Dumb ShbHiMi dll TMSI0 corn breeding program aimed at improving its product Several thousand varieties of com are bred each year by Donald Shaver vice president of research and by Ms Ohio counterpart Chuck Prior It was Shaver who first developed a Cornnuts hybrid from Peruvian com back in the 1980s The large ongoing breeding program Holloway said us to maintain our independence A couple of companies have done some breeding work but never got to the point they had a competitive product Even if a Mg company with a lot of money to spend you make the generations (of com) turn over any faster than we can generation takes four to five months to grow" he said have to be very patient to be a com breeder" Shaver spent more than a dozen years developing the patented com gene that Commits has begun licensing to hybrid seed growers The plant Shaver used in developing was discovered at a small hybrid seed company in Illinois A Dotson byMdbmiy Smaidino Law Wright Richard Richard Bia William 'Harman Kong CLU CMC FmnoVhaRa Tarry Horpar LLU nwnon Mmi THE MONEY STORE INVESTMENT CORPORATION The 1 lender of SBA loans in America MEM takes off with flying colors Robot SuKvanOUOC FrsomVisaUa Now life insurance that may pay your premium costs for you! 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