Many in the High Plains region regularly enjoy the tortilla chips – an item more local than what might think - that, along with a bowl of salsa, typically precede Mexican meals.
As The High Plains Journal reports, Leon and Nancy Winfrey of Plains, Kansas own Southwest Tortillas – made with food grade white corn grown on their farm. The family sells fresh corn tortillas to restaurants in Kansas and Oklahoma.
Low corn prices prompted the couple to diversify their farming business – first, in 1989, when they began offering a guided hunting service for pheasant and whitetail deer.
Then when corn prices dropped to $2 per bushel in 2001, Leon began researching tortilla chips after he found that others were making money off of his corn after he hauled it to town - so he decided to eliminate some of those steps and start making his own corn tortillas.
Winfrey said the white corn used for the tortillas yields about 220 to 240 bushels per acre and the kernels’ high quality allows the Winfreys to make about 800 bags of chips off approximately 1,000 pounds of corn.