The Agricultural Core's environmental conditions make the area best suited for the production of corn. Corn was also once a reliable food source for Native Americans living in Arizona. Evidence of the first farmers in the region has been found in the rich alluvial valleys of Cochise County dating from around 2,000 BC. At this time, corn or maize was first domesticated as a reliable food source. Ancient corn had separately sheathed kernels in a husk, attached to a small cob. Acceptance and cultivation of this ancestor of corn transformed human social and economic life from hunting and gathering to farming and trading. The simultaneous introduction of beans, chili and squash, along with corn, provided complete nutrition for early man. (http://southwest.library.arizona.edu/azso/body.1_div.1.html)
(Cotton Farm in Arizona)
Despite its dry climate, agriculture is still a $9.2 billion industry, its top commodities being luttuce, cotton, and hay. Arizona makes enough cotton a year to make more than one pair of jeans for every person in the US. So if you're wearing pants, thank Arizona. Arizona is also a valuable source of cattle and dairy goods, it being their most valuable farm product. (http://www.agclassroom.org/kids/stats/arizona.pdf)
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