We love our popcorn!

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - There may not be a more iconic duo than a movie and popcorn, and American’s certainly agree. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, on average, every man, woman, and child eats about 43 quarts of popcorn each year. The Grand Theater in Bismarck says they serve up several pounds of corn every week.

“As far as pounds of popcorn, I can give you a ballpark figure We go through about, I’d say, an estimate of 350 pounds a week,” said Ken Grim who is the Manager of Concessions and Beverages at the Grand Theater.

Popcorn is obviously the number one selling concession product but not the number one type of corn for North Dakota farmers to grow, that title belongs to Nebraska.

North Dakota produces about 400 million bushels of corn. However, none of that is for popping.

“You know, unfortunately, other than people growing it for their own use, we really don’t grow popcorn here. I’m sure that you have some that do just for their family, or just for their own use,” said Brenda Elmer, Executive Director of the North Dakota Growers Association.

Brenda Elmer says half of North Dakota corn goes toward Ethanol production, the rest is either exported to other countries or goes into animal agriculture.

Wikipedia says, corn originated in Mexico about 10,000 years ago, and Washington State University says the oldest popcorn discovered was in a cave in New Mexico and was about 5,600 years old...pretty stale but not as stale as reporter Joel Crane’s jokes.

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