FRANCESVILLE, Ind. – Gutwein Popcorn in Francesville is among the farms to be featured during the Indiana State Fair, July 29-Aug. 21.

Owner Harvey Gutwein, Jr. said he plans to give fairgoers a glimpse of what it takes to be a successful farmer.

“You have to have a desire to work pretty hard and do what needs done when it needs done,” he said.

He said farmers also must have marketing skills to help establish a good customer base for their products. 

About 50 million pounds of popcorn are grown annually on the 9,000-acre farm in Pulaski County in the northwest part of the state.

Gutwein said most of his popcorn is distributed to packers and sold under different brands.Some of his kernels are popped in movie theatres and high school sporting events in the area. One of his customers is the Indianapolis Colts.

The rest of his kernels are used in his own Gutwein Popcorn brand available online, in local retail stores and in a small gift shop at the farm. His sales are predominantly in the United States and Asia.

Gutwein is scheduled to engage with fairgoers about his operation on Aug. 8.

His great-grandfather, Philip, began raising and milling corn into flour in 1906.

His grandfather, Fred, and father, Harvey, switched to seed corn on the farm in 1936 when they founded Gutwein Hybrids.

In 1998, Gutwein, needing a change from seed corn, planted his first popcorn crop on just a few hundred acres.

He said the rest of his family dropped out of farming, which opened up more land for him to expand his popcorn production as he added more customers.

“I think once we got the reputation of growing top-quality popcorn, that helped us,” he said.

He raises butterfly, mushroom and white popcorn.

Butterfly popcorn, which has what looks like wings after popped, is found in products like microwave brands.

Mushroom popcorn, more round after popping, is used in snacks like Cracker Jack.

Gutwein said he’s often asked what he does to the kernels to make them pop. He explains water is naturally inside the kernels. Steam from the water as the kernels are heated creates enough pressure on the inside for the kernels to explode.

However, Gutwein said the kernels must contain about a 14 percent moisture content when stored. The moisture level cannot drop much or the kernels run the risk of not popping.

Gutwein said his grain bins are equipped with sensors monitoring the amount of moisture in the kernels. The sensors activate fans that either bring in moist air or dry air depending on what’s needed to keep the moisture in the kernels ideal.

The kernels, before being stored, are run through a processing plant, which removes dirt and stones from the crop after harvest.

The need to replace a processing plant installed at the farm in 2014 marked the continued need to expand the operation. “We have outgrown it,” he said.

Gutwein said he’s also in the process of constructing a new warehouse.

A majority of the 10 full-time employees at the farm are family members, including his two sons, Lance and Tyler, and their wives, Erica and Lacie.

Currently, a robot is used to stack the popcorn after it’s bagged. A new bagging system is also in the process of being installed to eliminate the need for a worker to pick up empty bags.

He also wants to inform fairgoers a successful farmer doesn’t rely totally on Mother Nature. “You can’t control the weather, but you can control other things.  You got to do your part and that’s about all you can do,” he said.