MSU Extension Field Crops

Michigan has the second most diverse agricultural production in the country. From livestock production to fruits to vegetables to field crops, there is much to see outside your window. Learn to recognize five common field crops produced in southwest Michigan and impress your friends and families with your crop knowledge!

Field corn (commercial corn, grain corn)

Corn is the most common crop grown in southwest Michigan and throughout the Midwest. It is one of only a few grass crops and has a wide leaf blade. It also grows taller and thicker than wheat or other grass crops. Field corn is generally the same variety throughout the field, so the corn should look relatively uniform in appearance. It eventually grows to be over 8 feet tall, and all the corn is allowed to tassel.

In the early season, you can tell it apart from seed corn because the same varieties are all planted together. Later, you can tell it apart because commercial corn keeps its tassel and grows much taller than seed corn.

Another clue that might be helpful when telling seed corn and field corn apart is that seed corn usually leaves maneuvering space between the edge of the field and the beginning of the row, whereas field corn is generally planted right up to the edge of the field on all sides.

Seed corn

Seed corn is found throughout southern Michigan, especially in St. Joseph and bordering counties. It is distinctive because of the two different varieties planted in each field. These two varieties are crossed to create a hybrid seed. The seed that is harvested this year is planted for field corn next year. To make sure the varieties cross without contamination, the “female” rows have the tassel removed or sterilized so that pollen doesn’t reach the ear. The “male” rows will pollinate the ears on the female rows. However, the male row ears are not part of the desirable cross. After pollination occurs, the male rows are destroyed.

To identify, four rows (the female rows) of the same variety will be together and then one to two rows (the male rows) of a different variety will follow before switching back to four female rows, and so on. You may also see a pattern of two female rows and one male row.

Early season, watch for that pattern of two different varieties. The male rows may have small pink or neon tags. Later in the season, watch for detasseled corn and for corn where some rows (the male rows) are cut, flattened or otherwise destroyed.

Another clue that might be helpful when telling seed corn and field corn apart is that seed corn usually leaves maneuvering space between the edge of the field and the beginning of the row, whereas field corn is generally planted right up to the edge of the field on all sides.

Soybeans

Soybeans have a bushy growth habit and grow only a few feet tall. After corn, they are the most common crop grown in southwest Michigan. They grow in trifoliate leaves as they mature. A trifoliate leaf has three leaflets. All these leaflets are rounded with a pointed tip, which gives soybeans a sort of rolling look to them overall. The top of the leaf is a deep green, but the underside is silvery.

Soybeans flower in late summer, but the flowers grow in nodes, or points where leaves or other stems attach to the main stem. Due to this node placement on the main stem, you are unlikely to see the flowers as you drive by. The flowers are small and purple or white. They turn into small fuzzy pods that have three to four seeds in them. As the soybeans mature, the seeds in the pod expand and become more solid.

In the early season, you can identify soybeans from their leaves (rounded with a pointed tip, silver underside) and branching. In the later season, soybeans look like a sea of short, rolling bushes with defined points at the tips of the leaves and flashes of silver throughout the field.

Potatoes

Most people think of Idaho when they think of potatoes. However, Michigan is a large producer of potatoes, most of which are chipping potatoes used to make potato chips. Chipping potatoes have a lower sugar content so they fry as close to white as possible. On the other hand, tablestock potatoes have a higher sugar content, which helps them taste better for general eating. Regardless of whether the potatoes are going to chips or to the table, the plants in the fields all look about the same.

Potato plants grow from tubers planted in the ground. They start out as upright little bushes but soon the vines become longer and form a thick mat in the field. The potato flowers bloom white, pink or purple in early to mid-summer before dying down. After flowering, the potatoes turn yellow-green and slowly yellow as they get closer to harvest. Some chipping potatoes are harvested while the vines are green. They are sent directly to a processor that day. Other potatoes are first killed and then sit for several weeks to develop skins before shipping to a processor or storing in large, ventilated bins.

Potatoes are easy to identify early on because they almost always grow in hills. If you pass a field with lots of little hills throughout it, you can almost guarantee potatoes are planted or growing there.

During flowering, potatoes are also easy to identify since no other crops are flowering so prolifically at the same time. Later in the season, potatoes are a relatively short green mat with occasional upright vines (causing a lumpy or bumpy look) that stand out even from the road.

Winter wheat

Wheat is another grass crop. Winter wheat is planted in the fall and sprouts before the first snowfall. If planted early enough, it looks like green grass before freezing temperatures. The wheat will continue to grow very slowly until it goes into a period of dormancy over the winter. In the spring, it will green back up and continue growing. Eventually it produces a wheat head with kernels and yellows down until it becomes a golden color before being harvested. The yellowed wheat stalks (straw) remain after harvest and are baled.

Early wheat is recognizable because it looks like an increasingly lush grass field. It is difficult to tell apart from other small grass crops like oats or barley until the heads emerge. Around mid-May, the wheat heads emerge on the top of the stalk and are held above the leaves. You can identify wheat by the heads, which start out green but lighten with time to a cream color before becoming a golden or tan color prior to harvest.

Bonus: Alfalfa

This is the bonus crop you didn’t know you needed. Alfalfa is a common crop that is used in hay, but hay may also contain grasses, clovers and other plants. Broadly, plants that are used to feed livestock are referred to as forages. Alfalfa has several mostly upright stems with small trifoliate leaves. If allowed to flower, it has purple flowers, but it is often cut before flowering or shortly after flowering. From the roadside, it can look like a grainy or pixelated green field.

Alfalfa is easiest to identify if it grows by itself, but don’t forget that hay fields often include grasses and other plants. Alfalfa can be cut and baled multiple times during the summer since it grows back after each cutting.

Early on, you can identify alfalfa by the plain green, slightly pixelated look to the field, and after cutting and baling, a field is easily recognizable as having had a forage. If you see any textures beyond grasses out there, chances are very high that the field has alfalfa.

Now that you’ve learned how to identify some of southwest Michigan’s common field crops, don’t be a passive passenger in the car this summer. Practice identifying crops as you travel through the countryside, and challenge your friends and family to do the same!

Ready for the ultimate test of your skills? See how many crops you can identify correctly from the roadside in this Field Crops Identification Quiz from Michigan State University Extension.