ILLINOIS – If you’ve driven around Illinois, there’s a strong chance you’ve noticed corn fields along your commutes. New research reveals that corn fields cover more of Illinois than every U.S. state except one.
BrilliantMaps.com recently published a map showing the “percentage of each state occupied by corn fields.” The results are based on the USDA’s Prospective Plantings report.
According to the map, corn fields cover around 29.7% of Illinois, just less than one-third of the state’s entire boundaries.
The only state covered by a larger percentage of corn was neighboring state Iowa with nearly 36.4%.
Data also revealed that Illinois has around 11,200 corn fields per every 1,000 acres, which also only trailed Iowa (13,100 fields per 1,000 acres).
Experts say the growing and processing corn in Illinois adds around $17.5 billion to the state’s economy annually.
