The Native Americans also showed the Pilgrims how to grow corn by digging holes in the ground, dropping in some corn kernels and small fish, and then covering the holes. The fish served as fertilizer for the young corn plants. Corn was so valuable that early settlers used corn to trade with the Native Americans for food and furs. The Native American farmers of the Ohio River Valley had been growing corn for over 1,700 years when the first white men crossed the Appalachian Mountains. Both the United States and the rest of the world use corn primarily as livestock feed.
Dent corn is the most important commercial type of corn grown in the United States.
Predominantly yellow or white, the dent corn kernel forms a dent on the crown of the kernel at maturity. Corn has a long history of being used for more than just animal feed or food for humans. The British Parliament tried to encourage American colonists to turn corn into sugar with the Molasses Act in 1733. Today, over one-third of the sweeteners consumed by Americans comes from corn or another feed grain. Corn also has also been used in the production of alcohol for many years.