Looking for Help With Food History Book

Greetings, LTH friends.

I'm under contract with the University of IL Press to write a book on the history and impact of maize/corn in the American Midwest. It's an exciting project, and I'm having a lot of fun with the research, but I'd like to take some time off from the daily grind to run around the Midwest and talk to actual humans (not just reading books). I'm looking to talk to farmers, agricultural historians, families whose ancestors settled the land, museum docents, folklorists, scientists, livestock breeders, businesses that utilize corn (everything from Orville Redenbacher to people who make biodegradable goods from corn -- like all the plates, cups,and cutlery at Baconfest). I want a lot of great stories in the book, not just stuff I got from reading other people's research.

I've got some good, solid connections -- though more are always good, if you know of people across the Midwest who have good "how corn shaped the Midwest" stories.

But I also need money. I'm self-employed, so there is no paid vacation to help me out here. So I've set up a project on Kickstarter, to see if I can't get a little help with this. If I don't make my goal, I don't get any of the money, so I hope you'll pass this along to anyone you know in the industry who would like one of the offered rewards (name in the book, free add on the blog, that sort of thing).

Here's where you can check out my project, if you have any interest in food history and creating a record of the foodways of this region.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2113451229/midwest-maize-history-of-corn-in-the-heartland

Thanks for your consideration.