Between towering cornstalks, winding paths and dead ends, eager Aggies and community members dare to face the 2024 Fightin’ Texas Aggie Corn Maze. For several years, the A&M Agronomy Society has strived for a better attraction than the last despite difficulties.

While the maze opened Oct. 19, the process began months ago. Beginning mid to late July, the organization cares for the acres of land at 2650 F&B Road — planting the corn seeds, maintaining irrigation and fertigation systems, even pulling weeds. Although those are factors they can control, the unpredictability of agriculture and the weather has a large impact on the attraction. Last year, the maze was canceled due to a drought in the summer and problems with the irrigation system.

“If you could pick the worst time of the year to grow corn in Texas, this would be it,” Ronnie Schnell, Ph.D, said. “… But drip irrigation, it makes it possible. We don’t have a lot of drip irrigation on this side of the state. So it’s a very efficient irrigation system. And we can actually make that work in some of the worst conditions.”

Luckily not canceled this year, the seeds from a local supplier were planted all uniform at around 25,000 seeds per acre.  

“We double planted, so we planted one way, and then we planted the other direction,” Schnell said. “I’m going to say that was maybe close to two bags of seed, so 80,000 kernels in each bag. And we plant two directions using about 75,000 kernels each time.”

With mixed seed varieties, some corn takes time to catch up with their neighbors, growing from six to 12 feet tall. Once at their desired height, the paths finally get paved. They usually stomp and cut the paths by hand, making their way from the start to the exit with only one correct path. 

“We kind of try and avoid areas of weaker corn because when you widen out the paths, you risk what’s called ‘lodging,’ where the corn blows over easily with high winds,” turfgrass science senior and corn maze chair Cabot Ellis said. “If you have paths that you create, these wind channels, it’ll blow over stalks. So we want to prevent that. We try and cut through healthy corn, and then it’s just kind of something where we have volunteers who will come out and we go, ‘OK, each one of you, you cut a path to throw somebody off.’”

With a rough template of the A&M primary logo spanning 36 by 36 inches scaled up to 60 feet, in the middle of all the twisting paths lies the carved-out logo. 

“We do cut out the A&M logo, like the paths; we just stomp them down, get a rough idea, and then we just kind of chop them up with hoes,” Ellis said. “What’s funny is it doesn’t last long because everybody’s in there walking around. The maze just kind of takes a beating after the first weekend.”

The corn that’s planted early enough to be harvested or not eaten by blackbirds can be sold through local suppliers and generate revenue for the farm as well. The maze itself also serves as a fundraiser for the Agronomy Society to compete in at the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Conference. 

With booths and a cotton gin demonstration, the maze also serves as a learning experience for students and the maze-goers. From hands-on experience, planning and growing corn taller than themselves, the organization’s members aim to show off not only their hard work, but also educate the community about the importance of agriculture. 

“It’s just great to see the community come back and watch things like the cotton gin operate and just see where their clothes and food come from,” Ellis said. “Because it’s something that not everybody’s fortunate to see, and the Agronomy Society Corn Maze is great at that.” 

Nearing seasonal end, the maze honors Jonathan Stanush, Class of 2018 and a former member of the Agronomy Society. While the organization is young, the members have developed a close-knit community of their own to help navigate the future. 

“It’s not two of us doing it — it’s a team,” Ellis said. “It’s a family, so to speak, because there’s so many of us planning different things and so many different elements. … It’s a well-organized machine, the Agronomy Society, and I’m fortunate enough to have a good team of people behind me — a good team to put on this event that everybody loves.” 

The corn maze will run until Saturday.