A Brief History of Corn

The Poor Prole’s Almanac

For our 100th episode, we decided to tackle the long and convoluted history of corn, specifically corn in the post-1492 world. Corn's rise to becoming the cornerstone of the diet for most of humanity involves a lot of moving pieces, from its early history of being bred to a perfect confluence of events that allowed corn to continue growing past the point of anything anyone would have ever expected.

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Sources:

https://scholarworks.uark.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1227&context=jflp

https://ensia.com/voices/its-time-to-rethink-americas-corn-system/?viewAll=1

https://grist.org/food/our-crazy-farm-subsidies-explained/

https://www.iowacorn.org/media-page/corn-facts

https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2019/07/29/corn-americas-largest-crop-2019#:~:text=The%20rest%20of%20the%20corn,and%20bio%2Ddegradable%20packing%20materials.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/07/14/how-corn-made-its-way-into-just-about-everything-we-eat/

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Flifestyle%2Ffood%2Fin-defense-of-corn-the-worlds-most-important-food-crop%2F2015%2F07%2F12%2F78d86530-25a8-11e5-b77f-eb13a215f593_story.html%3Fitid%3Dlk_inline_manual_10

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(13)00507-1.pdf

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/c4-photosynthesis-food-security-1.569044#:~:text=Plants%20using%20C4%20photosynthesis%20grow,according%20to%20a%20new%20study.

Smil, Vaclav (2004). Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production (1st ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT. ISBN 9780262693134.

Ritter, Steven K. (18 August 2008). "The Haber-Bosch Reaction: An Early Chemical Impact On Sustainability". Chemical & Engineering News. 86 (33).

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Flifestyle%2Ffood%2Fin-defense-of-corn-the-worlds-most-important-food-crop%2F2015%2F07%2F12%2F78d86530-25a8-11e5-b77f-eb13a215f593_story.html%3Fitid%3Dlk_inline_manual_10

https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/41988/50849_aib485.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4gViMBiJqc&t=67s