Francis Childs, 68, Iowa’s ‘Corn King’
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Francis Childs, knows as Iowa’s “Corn King,” died January 9 in Manchester, Iowa. He was 68.
Childs set world records for non-irrigated corn yields, including 442 bushels an acre in 2002. The average Iowa farm produces about 150 bushels an acre.
“What Mr. Childs has done is raise people’s notions of just how much corn can be coaxed from an acre of ground,” wrote the Wall Street Journal in 2000.
But his techniques, involving deep plowing and heavy use of pesticides and fertilizer, drew flak as well. “He’s like an athlete on steroids,” complained one farmer. Childs was a six-time winner of the National Corn Growers Association’s contest and was known informally as Iowa’s “Corn King.” Besides farming, Childs also liked tractor pulling and snowmobile racing, owning a snowmobile shop for more than 20 years.
