The Midwest is known as the nation's "breadbasket." The fertile soil of the region makes it possible for farmers to produce abundant harvests of cereal crops such as wheat, oats, and corn. Corn is the most important of all American crops, as basic to American agriculture as iron is to American industry. The annual crop is greater than the nation's yield of wheat, rice and other grains combined. On hot, still midsummer nights in the Corn Belt, farmers insist they can hear the corn growing.
Farms are normally located separate from each other, close to the fields, and often beyond the sight of its neighbors. The village or town is principally a place where the farm family travels to buy supplies, to attend church and to go for entertainment or political, social or business meetings. Midwesterners are praised as being open, friendly, and straightforward. Their politics tend to be cautious, but the caution is sometimes peppered with protest.