IOWA
Strawberry Point, Iowa is home to the 'World's Largest Strawberry,' which sits atop city hall.
Quaker Oats, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the largest cereal company in the world.
Le Mars, Iowa was designated the 'Ice Cream Capital of the World' by the Iowa General Assembly in 1994. This claim is based on the fact that the largest family owned dairy producer in the world, Wells Dairy is located there, and the dairy produces over 100 million gallons of ice cream a year - more than any other single location in the world.
According to the USDA, Iowa had a total of 15.5 million market hogs and pigs as of March 1, 2007, which is 1/4 of the nation's total. North Carolina (8.4 million) and Minnesota (6.2 million) were second and third.
Iowa's Most Popular Crop
About 90 percent of Iowa's land is dedicated to farming. In addition to producing soybeans and raising livestock, the state grows corn in great quantities. Much of its economy is based on the production of corn and corn byproducts -- popcorn, corn oil, corn syrup, cornmeal, cornstarch, and animal feed.
Corn, also known as maize, was grown in the Americas long before the European explorers arrived. It was an important source of food for many native peoples. Scientists believe that corn originated in Mexico thousands of years ago and that Native Americans cultivated it from a wild grass commonly known as teosinte. Archaeologists have found traces of corn that are 5,300 years old.
Library of Congress Local Legacies Project
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