Field corn

Field corn, also known as cow corn, is a North American term for maize (Zea mays) grown for livestock fodder (silage and meal), ethanol, cereal, and processed food products. The principal field corn varieties are dent corn, flint corn, flour corn (also known as soft corn) which includes blue corn (Zea mays amylacea),^[1] and waxy corn.^[2]

Field corn primarily grown for livestock feed and ethanol production is allowed to mature fully before being shelled off the cob and being stored in silos, pits, bins, or grain "flats". Field corn can also be harvested as high-moisture corn, shelled off the cob and piled and packed like silage for fermentation; or the entire plant may be chopped while still very high in moisture, with the resulting silage either loaded and packed in plastic bags, piled and packed in pits, or blown into and stored in vertical silos.

People may pick ears of field corn when its sugar content has peaked and cook it on the cob or eat it raw. Ears of field corn picked and consumed in this manner are commonly called sweet corn, or "roasting ears" due to the most commonly used method of cooking them.