Photo courtesy of Associated Press

In Knott’s Berry Farm’s annual “Scary” Farm celebration, 13 mazes were built at the park this year exclusively from Fresno State corn stalks.

The corn was cultivated by students in the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.

According to the Knott’s Berry Farm website, the theme park has “the world’s largest Halloween celebration.”

“Thousands of people visit during this season, so the corn stalks need to be durable to withstand the number of visitors,” said Meghan Gardner, a Knott’s Berry Farm spokesperson.

The theme park has occasionally had problems with corn stalks not lasting for the duration of the Halloween attraction, so Gardner said they were looking for a “specific, quality product.”

Gardner said the manager, who was not available for comment, “heard very good things about Fresno State agriculture.” Gardner said they were also interested in a partnership with Fresno State because Knott’s Berry Farm “wants to give back to the community, and one way to do it is to work with educational institutions.”

“Knott’s Berry Farm approached us and asked us if we could provide corn for their mazes. It sounded like a very exciting task,” said Ganesan Srinivasan, director of the Fresno State agricultural operations unit.

According to Srinivasan, Knott’s Berry Farm paid $4,500 for the field corn. The money will be set aside for the student farm at Fresno State.

“This was the first time a project of this nature was presented to us and it seemed like a good opportunity for our students,” said Srinivasan.

Four Fresno State agriculture students planted and harvested the corn that was eventually shipped to Buena Vista, Calif. Agricultural education student Robert Calvert was one of the students involved with the project.

Calvert, a senior at Fresno State, works as a field crop student assistant for the agricultural operations unit. Calvert said they usually get a lot of requests from seed and chemical companies, so the Knott’s Berry Farm request was a unique addition to their workload.

Fresno State is famous for its award-winning sweet corn, but Calvert said the corn used for the mazes was field corn, which is usually grown to serve as feed for Fresno State cattle.

“The stalks from field corn are a lot stronger, more durable and taller than those from sweet corn,” said Calvert. It also takes twice as long to grow field corn. An estimated 120 days is necessary, so the corn was planted in the spring and early summer and was sent to Knott’s Berry Farm in late September.

Calvert said the Knott’s Berry Farm request was not troublesome because the total yields were “a little higher than expected.”

10,000 yields were produced for the Knott’s Berry Farm mazes, amounting to less than half an acre.

The mazes built from Fresno State corn stalks will be open to the public at Knott’s Berry Farm until Oct. 31.