Lines of Corn
My project is called Seed We Need®. We are breeding for climate change, so people can grow their own high nutrition food staple. I have 5 lines on the market. They all have 98–100% germination in cold soil tests, which few corns can approach.
All our corns are grown dryland. They have endured severe droughts. They all produce high protein on low nitrogen soil. This suggests that they may be among the corns which have the ability to produce nitrogen through symbiotic relationships with microbes in the soil. We do not need to spray the fields with liquid nitrogen as industrial corn needs, which is destroying the environment and polluting water sources.
In the 1929–1930s Montana experienced the Great Drought. The only grain that survived to keep the homesteaders alive was corn they got from the Indians. I am the only person who saved that corn. It is in almost all of my genetics.
My oldest line of 55 years. A high protein grain corn that doubles as an ornamental corn with more rare, vibrant colors than any other ornamental corn.
Soft flour starch · 12% protein (DM) · 99% cold germination · 100–110 days as dry grain
A soft starch blue flour corn for cornbread, tortillas, or any food purpose. Dave's best creation for global warming and drought.
Soft flour starch · 14% protein (DM) · 99% cold germination · 110 days to dry grain in Montana
A hard starch blue flint food corn — our only hard starch line, for rainy climates where hard kernels resist moisture problems.
Hard flint starch · 10% protein (DM) · 98% cold germination · 110 days to dry grain in Montana
“Black corn is for healing.” — Navajo elder. A nutrient dense, soft flour starch that is easy to grind and makes the best corn bread.
Soft flour starch · 13% protein (DM) · High cold germination · 110 days to dry grain in Montana
Balanced protein builds muscle. A nutrient dense grain staple, fast maturing, strong-stalked, surviving both drought and cold stress.
Very soft starch, extra fine flour · 12.6% protein (DM), superior amino acid quality · High cold germination · Fast maturing
Protein, dry matter basis
| Blue Mesa Maize | 14 % |
| Montana Morado Maize | 13 % |
| Homestead Hero | 12.6 % |
| Painted Mountain Corn | 12 % |
| Blue Mountain Flint | 10 % |
| Commercial yellow dent | 8.5 % |
Two blue corns, two ecosystems
Blue Mesa Maize, with desert ancestry, is especially for hot dry environments, and anyone who wants flour corn. Blue Mountain Flint, with East Coast ancestry, is especially for wet environments, and anyone who wants flint corn.
Also developed
Corn Borer Resistant — a fast-maturing corn for the north, resistant to corn borers. Available, but not on the market.