Corn or maize (as the North Americans called it) began over 7,000 years ago in Central America as a wild grass called teosinte. Teosinte looked very different from the corn we have today. The kernels were small and not placed together like the ears of modern corn.

Eventually, the size of the maize was large enough to make it possible and worthwhile for a family to produce this food for the bulk of their diet for an entire year just from a small parcel of land.

Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to plant maize in 1621, and the Pilgrims immediately recognized its value. "Corn"as the English called it, was the one plant that provided the settlers with a ready-to-eat vegetable, a storable grain, and animal feed, and a heating fuel. Without corn the settlers probably would never have survived.

The most important advancement in the production of modern corn came in 1933 with the development of hybrids. Botanists have developed hybrids that produce great yields in all types of soil and climates. Yield increases of 50% or more have been attributed to hybrids and modern seed corn.

Corn is used in over 100 products and is the largest crop produced in Indiana.