Posted on November 1st, 2008 by admin

Cornnuts, a family-owned company in Oakland, California that has been in business since 1936, has followed its environmental conscience for nearly 20 years. Environmental concerns have helped shape Cornnuts’ agricultural, manufacturing and administrative operations in many different ways.
Cornnuts, tasty oversized roasted corn kernels, are not as simple to produce as they look. The present day snack is made from a hybrid corn developed after years of testing. Corn geneticists began working in 1959 to develop a hybrid similar to the original “Cuzco” corn that was imported exclusively from Peru to make Cornnuts.

Cornnuts’ first proprietary giant hybrid corn was produced in 1964, and several subsequent hybrids have been introduced since. The present hybrid, which matures sooner and dries more quickly than the others, can be grown using approximately 12 percent less irrigation water, compared to the original hybrid.
The corn harvesting industry realized a significant technological advancement in 1979, which provided Cornnuts with the opportunity to replace its existing harvesting system with picker-sheller combines. The new combines, which pick, shuck, and shell the corn in the field, increased harvesting capacity by five times per machine. Cornnuts subsequently installed a new drying facility to accommodate this new technology, and decreased drying time from five days to five hours. This new process reduced Cornnuts’ consumption of electricity and natural gas by 90 percent per ton of corn.
Cornnuts introduced its first drip irrigation system in 1990 in California, where most of its corn is grown. It also is preparing to help its growers convert to drip irrigation for their crops. Through this change, Cornnuts hopes to achieve a 66 percent reduction in its water usage.

Cornnuts’ concern for the environment doesn’t stop out in the field. Its new processing and manufacturing plant in Fresno, California, was built from the ground up with energy conservation in mind. A computerized energy management system controls the environment within the plant to maximize the energy sensitive design of the building. For example, heat from the boiler room warms adjacent rooms in the winter. Evaporative coolers in the kitchen provide energy efficient cooling in the summer.
The warehouse was designed for passive heating and cooling. And, since large quantities of water are used in processing I he corn, several water conservation systems were built into the plant.
Emplyees al each of Corn :ails’ three California locations are involved in Oho environmental programs created by employee environmental committees. Cornnuts also recycles all paper products, laser printer toner cartridges, glass, aluminum and cardboard, and uses recycled paper. Disposable items have been eliminated from the company’s employee kitchens and Cornnuts invites its 230 employees to bring their recyclables to work for pick up by the company recycler.

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