JOHNSTON, Iowa — It’s almost hard to imagine that corn, one of the most productive crops in the world, began as a wild grass with only a handful of hard kernels.
Modern corn began more modestly in Mexico and Central America as a plant called teosinte, which is a part of a group of wild grasses. Teosinte, however, is very diverse and includes a wide variety of species.
As Corteva’s Pioneer seed line marks its 100-year anniversary, those attending the Corteva Summer Media Day got to walk through the brand’s Century of Innovation plot, which is one of 30 displays planted across the country. It showed how corn breeding has evolved over the past century, from corn’s wild ancestor teosinte into today’s high-performing hybrids…