CHATHAM, Va. — Tomorrow, Jan. 19, is National Popcorn Day. To celebrate, why not appreciate the crop that has silently outperformed tobacco in Pittsylvania County for more than a century?
Corn production in Pittsylvania County experienced its first sharp hike in the 1880s, as locally-produced liquor was hard to come by and corn was king crop for liquor production at the time.
In one of Chatham's ten taverns on Main Street in the 1880s, corn malt liquor sold for $1 a gallon and sweet mash liquor, or corn drippings, sold for a quarter less, according to a Civil War-era manifesto.
Fast forward a century and a half — Pittsylvania County farmers last year received $540,857 in corn subsidies, ranking fourth-most among Virginia's 95 counties. The majority of those county farmers operate in Chatham.
Recipients of Corn Subsidies from farms in Pittsylvania County have totaled $10,257,000 since 1995.
After forage-land, corn actually ranks as the top crop item per acre in Pittsylvania County, according to the most recent USDA Census of Agriculture. Corn even outranks the county's hallmark crop, Tobacco, which Pittsylvania grows more of than any other county in the commonwealth.
At 8,300 acres, nearly double the acreage is used to grow corn in the county versus tobacco, at just over 4,600 acres.
The Popcorn Board, a congregation of popcorn companies, farmers and agriculturalists, conducted a survey of 2,000 respondents this week and found popcorn was the No. 1 "must have" for a perfect movie night, garnering 51 percent of the vote to beat out cozy blankets and chocolate.
Sixty percent of surveyees claimed stay-at-home orders associated with COVID-19 turned them into a "total film buff." The same percentage said they watched more movies this year than any previous year in their life.
According to Virginia Tech, Virginia's climate rarely allows for ideal popcorn stalk drying, especially given the state's repeated damp hurricane cycles. However, as demand for tobacco has fallen, popcorn farmers have emerged in Southside Virginia.
Jim Jennings, president of the Mecklenburg County Farm Bureau, began growing popcorn with his son in 2016.
"The corn we grow is what they call mushroom corn,” Jennings said. "It’s specifically bred to make kettle corn. It’s not the corn that they get in a movie theater. It’s more of a round ball, and it’s a little tougher because of the coating process. It’s better suited for that.”
Popcorn’s agricultural history is long — dating back to South America roughly 9,000 years ago — but commercially, the snack has a very short history. Farm papers and seed trade catalogs made first reference to popcorn around 1880, when corn production in Pittsylvania County rose sharply. Popularity grew quickly from there.
Virtually all global popcorn production is in the U.S., with 25 states, including Virginia, growing the crop. Seven Virginia-based popcorn farm operations are growing popcorn right now.
The Link LonkJanuary 19, 2021 at 01:58AM
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In honor of National Popcorn Day, here's a brief history of corn in Pittsylvania County - Chatham Star-Tribune
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