TIPTON COUNTY, Ind. – When Jennifer Baird started selling her family’s sweet corn years ago, she was sometimes questioned about where the corn came from. Her response eventually became the name of the business, which sells sweet corn grown in Tipton County at 17 farmers markets in central Indiana.

“People would ask me, where did you get this corn?” she recalled. “I was a blonde girl with all this makeup on. I didn’t look like a farmer. I would tell them, it’s my dad’s sweet corn.”

The Baird family – Jennifer’s parents, Allen and Rachel, her brother Andrew and sister Betsy – grows 65 acres of sweet corn under the brand name My Dad’s Sweet Corn. Allen is a commercial farmer, and also raises field corn and soybeans.

In Indiana, about 4,000 acres of sweet corn were planted in 2021, according to the USDA. More than 5 million acres of field corn were planted in the state last year. Nationally, about 371,000 acres of sweet corn were planted, as were more than 90 million acres of field corn.

The path to the creation of My Dad’s Sweet Corn began after Jennifer Baird moved to Carmel for her job as a Delta flight attendant in 1996. Her dad had always planted a couple acres of sweet corn for family and friends. Three years after her move to Carmel, Baird started selling her family’s sweet corn there.

“I was just doing that as a side hustle,” she explained. “I never thought my family would be going to 17 farmers markets like we do today. Not in my wildest dreams. I just showed up (in Carmel) in a 1979 Oldsmobile. I loaded it up with corn in the trunk. It was just spilling out of the back seat. They didn’t have any corn sellers so they were so happy to see me. I sold all of it in 40 minutes.”

After selling out so quickly, Baird said, “The light went on. I thought this might be something. I called dad, who was detasseling corn. It shocked him, which made my day.”

Over the years, the family has increased the amount of acreage devoted to sweet corn. They’ve also come up with ways to extend the growing season.

“We plant in March and cover (the sweet corn) with low tunnels,” Baird noted. “We try to plant every five days from mid-March to mid-July. We end our season the first weekend in October.”

They choose seed based on when it will be planted. They irrigate, something Baird said commercial farmers aren’t set up to do. The family raises non-GMO sweet corn.

“Even though it was my idea, this is my dad’s baby,” Baird said. “He puts so much time and so much energy into the sweet corn operation. Once he realized we were going to go to the farmers markets, he wanted to do it right. He figured out how to get the best production possible. I know I’m biased, but it is good.”

Generally, sweet corn is ready to pick 70-80 days after planting, Baird said. The corn is hand picked the evening before it is taken to the farmers markets. Sweet corn tastes best when it’s eaten within two days after harvest, she added.

Allen Baird took over the farm in the southwest corner of Tipton County in 1965 – when he was in his 20s – after his father died. The five-generation farm has been in the family more than 125 years.

Jennifer Baird and her siblings all have off-farm jobs, given the seasonality of the sweet corn business. During the farmers market season, though, everyone is busy. There are markets on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

“To cover all the farmers markets, we rely on family and friends,” she said. “Saturdays are the busiest days of the week for farmers markets. About 5:30 a.m., 11 trucks leave the farm for the markets. Mom has to prepare the 11 cash boxes..”

Baird said the family isn’t interested in seeing the business grow from its current level. “I can’t see us growing bigger,” she said. “We’re way bigger than we’re comfortable with right now.”

For more information on the business, visit www.mydadssweetcorn.com. The site includes locations and hours for the farmers markets, recipes and instructions on how to best cook sweet corn.