About two years ago, things didn’t look entirely good in John Harold’s sweet corn fields.

Corn earworm moth larvae were hatching in the heat, diminishing how much of the signature “Olathe Sweet” sweet corn could be sold through its main market, Kroger Co. (parent company of City Market and King Soopers). The situation was bleak enough that Harold wrote to U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, calling the moth an emergency and asking for a federal agronomist to be sent to help the mainstay crop for the area, which generates millions each year, and, between multiple growers, employs an estimated 250 people each season.

But this season, things are looking up.

“It’s substantially better. We seem to have at least temporarily overcome the worm problem. We’re harvesting,” Harold said Monday.

Harvesting b

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