From the Movie Theater to a Microwave Bag, Your Popcorn May Be Ohio-grown

By Erin Gottsacker

Drive across Ohio in the summertime and you’ll see fields upon fields of corn.

Much of it will be used to produce ethanol or livestock feed, but a small fraction of those golden kernels will end up coated in butter at movie theaters or covered in caramel at carnivals.

The United States is the world’s largest producer of popcorn. And Ohio — along with states like Nebraska, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri — is doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

“Ohio has always been a big player in popcorn production,” said Brian Churchill. He’s been a popcorn farmer since the late ‘70s and has worked with the Popcorn Board to study safe and productive ways to grow it.

Of 230,000 acres of popcorn planted nationwide last year, he estimates just under 10% came from the Buckeye state.