After $27,000 in corn sales — 82,193 ears — the first five days of the 2014 corn season, Fresno State’s new organic bi-color sweet corn will make its debut at Gibson Farm Market Friday (June 6) but a limited preview supply is available in the store today. With the integration of the three-acre organic plot into Fresno State’s vegetable crop, precision farming techniques provide students with the experience of working on an organic operation similar to the private sector, said crop technician Preston Farris, a 2013 alumnus. “We feel that this allows our students to gain knowledge of the dynamics of commercial scale organic production, including the production of organic sweet corn,” he said. Corn makes up about half the organic plot with squash, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and watermelons. From May 30-June 3, Fresno State’s Gibson Farm Market sold 60,454 ears of conventional yellow sweet corn for about $19,949 and 21,379 ears of white sweet corn for about $7,055. Proceeds benefit programs in the university’s Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology. See original press release.
