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Corn currently accounts for more than [br]one tenth of our global crop production.

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The United States alone has enough [br]cornfields to cover Germany.

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But while other crops we grow [br]come in a range of varieties,

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over 99% of cultivated corn is the [br]exact same type: Yellow Dent #2.

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This means that humans grow [br]more Yellow Dent #2

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than any other plant on the planet.

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So how did this single variety [br]of this single plant

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become the biggest success story [br]in agricultural history?

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Nearly 9,000 years ago, corn, [br]also called maize,

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was first domesticated from teosinte, [br]a grass native to Mesoamerica.

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Teosinte’s rock-hard seeds [br]were barely edible,

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but its fibrous husk could be turned [br]into a versatile material.

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Over the next 4,700 years, farmers bred [br]the plant into a staple crop,

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with larger cobs and edible kernels.

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As maize spread throughout the Americas, [br]it took on an important role,

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with multiple indigenous societies [br]revering a “Corn Mother”

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as the goddess who created agriculture.

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When Europeans first arrived in America, [br]they shunned the strange plant.

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Many even believed it was the source of [br]physical and cultural differences

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between them and the Mesoamericans.

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However,

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their attempts to cultivate European crops[br]in American soil quickly failed,

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and the settlers were forced [br]to expand their diet.

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Finding the crop to their taste, [br]maize soon crossed the Atlantic,

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where its ability to grow in diverse [br]climates made it a popular grain

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in many European countries.

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But the newly established United States [br]was still the corn capital of the world.

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In the early 1800’s, different regions [br]across the country

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produced strains of varying [br]size and taste.

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In the 1850’s, however,

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these unique varieties proved difficult [br]for train operators to package,

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and for traders to sell.

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Trade boards in rail hubs like Chicago [br]encouraged corn farmers

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to breed one standardized crop.

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This dream would finally be [br]realized at 1893’s World’s Fair,

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where James Reid’s yellow dent corn [br]won the Blue Ribbon.

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Over the next 50 years, yellow dent [br]corn swept the nation.

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Following the technological [br]developments of World War II,

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mechanized harvesters became [br]widely available.

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This meant a batch of corn that previously[br]took a full day to harvest by hand

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could now be collected in just 5 minutes.

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Another wartime technology, the chemical [br]explosive ammonium nitrate,

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also found new life on the farm.

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With this new synthetic fertilizer,

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farmers could plant dense fields [br]of corn year after year,

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without the need to rotate their crops [br]and restore nitrogen to the soil.

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While these advances made corn an [br]attractive crop to American farmers,

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US agricultural policy limited the [br]amount farmers could grow

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to ensure high sale prices.

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But in 1972, President Richard Nixon [br]removed these limitations

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while negotiating massive grain [br]sales to the Soviet Union.

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With this new trade deal [br]and WWII technology,

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corn production exploded into [br]a global phenomenon.

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These mountains of maize inspired [br]numerous corn concoctions.

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Cornstarch could be used as a thickening [br]agent for everything from gasoline to glue

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or processed into a low-cost sweetener [br]known as High-Fructose Corn Syrup.

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Maize quickly became one of the [br]cheapest animal feeds worldwide.

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This allowed for inexpensive [br]meat production,

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which in turn increased the demand [br]for meat and corn feed.

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Today, humans eat only 40% of [br]all cultivated corn,

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while the remaining 60% supports consumer [br]good industries worldwide.

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Yet the spread of this wonder-crop [br]has come at a price.

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Global water sources are polluted by [br]excess ammonium nitrate from cornfields.

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Corn accounts for a large portion of [br]agriculture-related carbon emissions,

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partly due to the increased meat [br]production it enables.

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The use of high fructose corn syrup may [br]be a contributor to diabetes and obesity.

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And the rise of monoculture farming

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has left our food supply dangerously [br]vulnerable to pests and pathogens—

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a single virus could infect the world’s [br]supply of this ubiquitous crop.

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Corn has gone from a bushy grass

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to an essential element of the [br]world’s industries.

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But only time will tell if it has led us [br]into a maze of unsustainability.