2 of 11 | Cameron Sorgenfrey holds a tall corn stalk next to a short corn stalk along one of his fields, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Wyoming, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) 3 of 11 | Cameron Sorgenfrey holds a corn stalk as he walks past one of his fields, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Wyoming, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) 4 of 11 | Cameron Sorgenfrey talks about short corn as he stands in his field, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Wyoming, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) WYOMING, Iowa (AP) — Taking a late-summer country drive in the Midwest means venturing into the corn zone , snaking between 12-foot-tall green, leafy walls that seem to block out nearly everything other than the sun and an occasional water tower. The skyscraper-like corn is a part of rural America as much as cavernous red barns and placid cows. But soon, that towering corn might become a miniature of its former self, replaced by stalks only half as tall as the green giants that have dominated fields for so long. “As you drive across the Midwest, maybe in the next seven, eight, 10 years, you’re going to see a lot of this out there,” said Cameron Sorgenfrey, an eastern Iowa farmer who has been growing newly developed short corn for several years, sometimes prompting puzzled looks from neighboring farmers. “I think this is going to change agriculture in the Midwest.” The short corn developed by Bayer Crop Science is being tested on about 30,000 acres (12,141 hectares) in the Midwest with the promise of offering farmers a variety that can withstand powerful windstorms that could become more frequent due to climate change . The corn’s smaller stature and sturdier base enable it to withstand winds of up to 50 mph — researchers hover […]