History Of Hybrid Corn In Ohio

A fellow who asked about open pollinated corn prompted this response from me.

Grandpa Winkle planted Bloody Butcher beside Reid's Yellow Dent in the 20's until he tried the first hybrid in the early 30's.  Dad was 18-20 years old.

C38 and US 13 were early hybrids I remember from dad.
http://www.maydica.org/articles/49_155.pdf
This a really detailed and interesting history of corn in Ohio in the last century!

By 1938, 40% of Ohio's corn was hybrid corn.  Can you imagine harvesting 130 bu when your neighbor got 25?  It happened.  Grandpa was considered the first man to break 100 bushels in Brown County in the 20's.

Ohio Seed Improvement was started at that time and I have worked with them since 1985, this will be my 30th year.  I scout wheat and soybeans and other crops but the corn program which was so important is pretty much gone.  The seed companies took over that responsibility and I don't know what year.  Executive Secretary-Treasurer John Armstrong currently runs our state seed improvement, OSIA,  I see they have a new website under development.
http://ohseed1.org/

I remember we broke 160 bushels in the 50's.  Our record was 234 bushels 1971, the year after the awful Corn Blight.  I didn't break that until 2004 at 265 bu on 50 acres.  I have not broken 300 bushels field average, last year came close around here.

The picture is one of my favorite corn pictures of all time, my first corn crop on Horseshoe Road in 2011.  It made a record 190 bushels for that farm the first time I ever farmed it and it quit raining July 17 with the last inch.  It was the driest fall I remember.  The link in my first sentence will lead you to two more of my favorite corn pictures of all time.

My favorite blog of all time is the one I wrote years ago about Hybridization Of Corn.  Links may come and links may go, but the population growth chart link in this blog still works!  I still enjoy clicking on it and watching it take off!

I really question if you and I would be here today if it weren't for hybrid corn.  Think about it.  Many consider that event genetic modification but the definition of a GMO is inserting the genes of one specie into another via a gun, virus or bacteria.  Hybrid corn wasn't done that way, traited corn was.

Ed