This corn is used mostly for silage and grain. Acreage increased by a third in 1998 over 1997, raising to 160,000 acres. Continued increases are forecast to meet local beef and dairy industry demands for animal feed. New breeding programs by University of Florida scientists are working to support these demands by developing new larger varieties tailored to resist Florida's disease and insect pests. Corn for grain and silage is grown during spring and summer.
Insect pests can cause considerable losses to both sweet and field corns in Florida.
Several moth species are serious year round pests whose control requires substantial economic input in the form of pesticide applications. Dependence on pesticides to produce good yields of sweet corn will decrease as current and future additional modes of insect resistance become available and are adopted by growers. Current insect-resistant germplasm targets one group of insects, namely, Lepidoptera. FAW is the primary pest of corn in Florida, but CEW is an important pest in central and north Florida. South Florida is thought to be the source of spring northerly migrations of FAW that effect corn growing regions to the north.