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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMonsanto WISHES it could make corn this cool
By Jess Zimmerman
Glass Gem corn looks almost CGI, but it actually comes out of the ground that way. Its the product of a small farm and a retro, handcrafted approach to agriculture genetic modification from back when genetic modification meant painstaking generations of selective breeding.
The corn was grown at Seeds Trust, a small family-owned Arizona seed company thats committed to sustainable agriculture. Seeds Trusts seeds are mostly open-pollinated, non-hybrid crops (thoroughly checked for contamination by GMO pollen), which they say is better for sustainable agriculture. The Glass Gem seeds were just brought in for babysitting, according to Seeds Trust president Bill McDorman:
Seedsman Greg Schoen got the seed from Carl Barnes, a part-Cherokee man, now in his 80s, in Oklahoma. He was Gregs corn-teacher. Greg was in the process of moving last year and wanted someone else to store and protect some of his seeds. He left samples of several corn varieties, including glass gem. I grew out a small handful this past summer just to see. The rest, as they say is history. I got so excited, I posted a picture on Facebook. We have never seen anything like this.
Of course, like most of us, Glass Gem corn looks better when moodily lit, but in the light of day its still pretty fly:
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)Systematic Chaos
(8,601 posts)I wonder if it tastes as good as it looks?
LadyHawkAZ
(6,199 posts)slackmaster
(60,567 posts)That would make interesting cornmeal.
gateley
(62,683 posts)Would be a darn shame to put butter on one of those beauties.
surrealAmerican
(11,365 posts)... is this sweet corn, field corn or popcorn?
knitter4democracy
(14,350 posts)My store has it, and they get it from a local Amish farm. Good stuff.
Sanity Claws
(21,862 posts)This corn is beautiful. I wonder what it tastes like. Even if it doesn't taste great, I'd still grow it for decorative purposes.
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)sakabatou
(42,186 posts)I wouldn't buy that! That's too unnatural.
BrownianNotion
(21 posts)There's no GMO on this, and making corn all yellow took a lot of effort and selective breeding. The natural wild corn was not all yellow before being domesticated, I think.
sakabatou
(42,186 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Used to be, colored corn of any design was called "Indian corn"
check out the images on Goolge..there are too many for me to download and post.
Just go to Google images and type in "Indian Corn"
LadyHawkAZ
(6,199 posts)if they'd had seeds available, I'd have bought some.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)makes a pretty neat desktop background
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)will be looking for seeds for next year, we already grow ruby red this is even better
thanks
midnight
(26,624 posts)Odin2005
(53,521 posts)And I'm somebody who supports GMOs (but not Monsanto).
Frickin' cool!
druidity33
(6,450 posts)How old is this article?
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)Though, it looks like they don't sell seed corn from this particular variety.