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Throughout the history of agriculture, farmers have used selective planting methods. They replanted the seeds from the best plants each growing season. The goal was to better crops from year to year, and the result was that they made the better genes more prominent by reproducing them repeatedly.
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In the 1860s, Charles Darwin developed his "Thoery of Evolution". The main idea of his theory is that plants and animals will evolve and adapt to best survive their environments. Furthermore, the genes that help organisms survive are theoritically passed down and should strengthen future generations. This event helped explain what had been happening with the develpoment of corn over the centuries, and would also play a large role in the development of hybrids.
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Gregor Mendel made many discoveries in his research with pea plants. It revealed alot about how individual traits were tied to inherited genetics. This scientific discover would be a great contribution to the progression of hybrids.
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Between the years of 1870, and 1930, the average U.S. corn yield didn't increase. In fact, it decreased by one bushel per acre. This was a result of inbreeding.
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G.H. Shull, a geneticist, discovered through different experiments that hybrids, rather than inbreds had better resistence, production, and growth. This was because inbreds inheritet all traits, good and bad, from the parent. Hybrids on the other hand, inherited the best traits from each parent.
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The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, developed the first hybrid corn seed that could be mass produced. It was called Burr-Leaming, and was a double-cross hybrid. Double-cross hybrids were though of by D.F. Jones, a head scientist at the station.
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Henry Wallace founded the Pioneer Hi-Bred seed company. This was the first company to market hybrid corn seeds. The company was located in Des Moines, Iowa.
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The increase in bushels per acre year for U.S. corn from 1930 to today is over 400%.
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Even through the Great Depression, and financial struggles in 1927 and 1933, Pioneer Hi-Bred, and other seed companies selling hybrids, prospered. The increase in production was so great, more and more farmers turned to hybrid seed.
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By 1935, the sucess of hybrid seed was so great that farmers in the Corn Belt were using it faster than it could be produced. This further illustrates its sucess.
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Henry Wallace, founded of Pioneer Hi-Bred served as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's secrectary of Agriculture. In 1940, Wallace was chosen to be the Vice-President of the United States.
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Henry Beachell's research was vital to the discovery of hybrid rice. The hybrid he created was very sucessful, and so became extremely popular. Its wide use helped eleviate hunger in some Asian countries because of its higher production.
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Currently, about 99% of crops in the U.S. are produced using hybrid seeds. These crops in clude wheat, soybeans, grain sorghum, cotton, peanuts, etc.
