Minnesota's sweet corn and green pea crops are looking good this year, with production of both expected to increase.
Production of sweet corn for processing is expected to climb 6 percent in 2014 to 847,530 tons, according to data released Friday by the United States Department of Agriculture. Annual pea output is forecast to rise 4 percent to 91,379 tons.
Minnesota is the nation's largest producer of sweet corn, and it's second only to Washington in peas. The two vegetables make their way from farms in Minnesota's south and southeast into frozen food and canned good aisles across the country.
Seneca Foods, North America's leading provider of packaged fruits and vegetables, has five plants in southern Minnesota, and corn and beans are their mainstay. Marion, N.Y.-based Seneca owns the Libby's brand, but it also packs Green Giant vegetables for that big brand's owner, General Mills.
Sweet corn acreage in Minnesota is actually down 1.5 from last year, but yields are expected to be up almost 8 percent, according to the USDA. The opposite is at work in peas, with yields down about 5 percent, but acreage up 10 percent.
