Founded in 1847 by Dutch immigrants, Pella provided rich soil for grain and corn.
This year, Australia's drought and America's ongoing quest for alternative fuels has dramatically lifted grain and corn prices.
When they substituted the Indian grain (corn), they called it Indian pudding.
For example, Jim Rodgers, co-founder with George Soros of the Quantum Fund, told the BBC that a lack of farmers played a starring role in a recent spike in food prices - grain, corn and soybean being critical parts of the food supply chain.
The Renewable Fuel Standard currently requires transportation fuel to contain certain amounts of renewables such as corn grain ethanol regardless of how high it pushes corn prices or how much weather conditions or tariffs on imported ethanol have reduced supplies.
Of course, higher corn and grain prices produce ag losers, too, as feed costs climb.
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Notable here was the set-up of a three-tiered structure for programs on agricultural commodities like wheat, corn and grain.
Midwestern hog farmers, with easy access to cheap corn and other grain, dominated the hog market.
Last week, the Obama Administration said its new calculations showed that grain-based biofuels like corn ethanol and soy-based biodiesel displaced more carbon dioxide than originally thought.
High crop prices (especially for corn) and tight grain inventories are expected to create huge demand for nutrients.
First, alcohol is distilled from something, and in the case of most higher-end gins it is a grain, like wheat, though theoretically it could be corn or sugarcane.
Thus far the star of this new science has been ethanol, a car fuel made from corn, but around the world chemical, grain and biotech companies are working to produce auto paint, cosmetics, even apparel fiber from renewable resources.
In April, Texas Governor Rick Perry asked the EPA to reduce the total number of gallons of ethanol required to be blended into gasoline sold in the United States until 2010, arguing that biofuels production had increased the price of grain by diverting a huge share of the nation's corn harvest to ethanol production.
Fertilizer, like many commodities, rises and falls dramatically in price, and the volume sold varies wildly from year-to-year, too, as farmers load up on nutrients in anticipation of strong grain prices, and ease up on the stuff when they expect corn and soybean prices to be lower.
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Investors in grain-processing giant Archer-Daniels-Midland ( ADM) think corn is king.
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Although the food questionnaires used in the study did not ask about specific brands of cereals, popular brand-name cereals made from refined grains include varieties of Corn Flakes, Special K, and Rice Krispies, while examples of whole-grain cereals include Cheerios, shredded wheat, and bran.
Jack Scoville, vice president, Price Futures Group, said the grain markets will remain very volatile for the next few months as weather extremes could sharply skew the yields for corn and soybeans.
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And Broin at POET felt that this could allow grain-based ethanol to meet as much of the full 36 billion gallon mandate as could be economically feasible given corn prices.
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