The state of Iowa has many nicknames throughout our country. Some might call Iowa the Hawkeye state, the home of Ashton Kutcher, or they'll hear the word Iowa and blurt out "Caitlin Clark?"

Another nickname for the state of Iowa is The Corn State. As every Iowan knows, Iowa is responsible for producing more corn than any other state in the country. The nickname is fitting if you ask me.

Since Iowa is sometimes called 'the corn state'  I was curious just how much of Iowa is covered by cornfields. I assumed it would be a pretty big percentage but I was not expecting this number. I figured that around 50% of Iowa was likely covered by corn fields and it turns out that my original guess wasn't even close.

Wait, Iowa is Covered by How Much Corn?!

Almost 70% of Iowa is devoted to producing some type of crop. According to Iowa State University, "more than 24 million acres are devoted to crops. This represents about 68% of the state's land area, and more than 94% of that land is used to produce corn and soybeans." 

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Check out this map of Iowa that I've created. The shaded part represents about how much of Iowa is used for some type of crops.

When you're driving through the state of Iowa, you'll notice tons of areas designated for corn and/or crops. From a ground level, it looks like there are corn fields and fields for crops everywhere. When you zoom out and take a look at the bigger picture, it's pretty amazing when you realize how much of Iowa is used to produce, fuel, and feed the entire country.

According to Iowa Corn, 99% of the corn planted here is "field corn" and not the corn you'd eat for dinner. Field corn is used in way too many things to list here but some of the biggest uses are; livestock feed, ethanol, food products, and industrial products. The list could go on and on if we wanted to find everything that uses corn.

Tons of adhesives, plastics, gels, and thickeners use field corn. All kinds of food products use corn flour, corn meal, corn starch, corn syrup, etc. The list would be endless.

I know you're aware of the abundance of cornfields in Iowa but were you aware just how much of the state is used to produce corn? It's amazing when you see it on a map.