1… One means “Number One” — the world’s number one crop. Maize is the most widely grown plant on earth. One also means one single species – “Zea mays” – which has produced all the different varieties of maize.
1001… as in a thousand and one varieties of maize around the world. And a thousand and one uses – in cooking, industry, medicine, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology etc. There’s no wastage… and maize is everywhere.
4… One hectare of maize can produce up to four times more oxygen than a hectare of forestland!
70%… Sweet corn contains 70% water. Sweet corn is maize produced solely for human consumption, eaten when picked. Perfectly fresh!
25%… This is the percentage of non-food supermarket products containing maize – one in four!
5… Maize is vegetable number 5 in the French shopping basket.
1493… The year the French discovered maize, and the beginning of a long story!
2.5… That’s the size, measured in centimetres (i.e. less than one inch), of a corncob 7000 years ago!
30cm… That’s the size of a corncob today! Maize has been constantly improved thanks to human efforts.
10 metres… That’s the height of certain cornstalks found in Mexico and other tropical regions!
3.7…That’s the number of hectolitres of ethanol, the ecological fuel, produced by one metric ton of maize (compared to only one hectolitre from a ton of potato or sugar beet).
