Program Information

By 1933 one of the most outstanding scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century was perfected for commercial production--hybrid seed corn.

A Moment in Time is a brief, exciting and compelling journey into the past. Created to excite and enlighten the public about the past, its relevance to the present and its impact on the future, A Moment In Time is a captivating historical narrative that is currently broadcast worldwide.

Transcript

Lead: By 1933 one of the most outstanding scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century was perfected for commercial production--hybrid seed corn.

Intro: A Moment In Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Corn is a crop native to the Americas and today is the number one cash crop in the United States, with a value of over $12 billion. Most is grown in the Corn Belt--Iowa, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. The United States grows half of the world's crop with most of it going to feed livestock. Prior to World War II most varieties of corn were inbred, meaning they were single-crossed or self-pollinated. Inbred corn is generally weaker with lower yields.

The development of a higher-yielding heartier corn, called hybrid seed corn, was a long time coming. In 1812 Pennsylvania farmer John Lorain pioneered advanced corn breeding by crossing dent corn and flint corn. He discovered that such yielded a dramatic increase in bushels per acre. In 1876 Charles Darwin (best known for his theory of evolution) published his findings of how inbred lines of plants were often weak, but vigor could be restored through cross-breeding. By the early 20th century, the stage was set for greatly increased corn yields through hybrids.

Hybrid corn--most of the corn grown in the United States today--is a first generation grown from seeds produced by crossing carefully selected unrelated parent stocks. The increase in yield of hybrid corn is 25-30% over the traditional method. Even though hybrids are better yielding, more resistant to disease and more vigorous, they do not pass characteristics on to their offspring. Each generation must be bred anew. Through hybridization and improved agricultural practices, corn production in the United States tripled during the second half of the 20th century.

Research assistance by Elizabeth Fairchild and Ann Johnson. The producer of A Moment In Time is Steve Clark. At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

Virginia Standards