by David Schap and Andrew T. Young

About the authors: David Schap is an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Andrew T. Young is a graduate of that institution and a doctoral student at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

From the early 1900s, American farmers were becoming well able to ‘‘read’’ maize and recognize which physical characteristics translated into varying yields, quality, insect and disease resistance, and even aesthetic value. By 1925, the University of Illinois Department of Agronomy compiled a list of distinct corn strains totaling 19 (7 white strains and 12 yellow strains). By 1990, a market for privately produced hybrid maize seed in the United States had developed in excess of $2 billion a year. Along with this market, and other hybrid seed markets, came the establishment of...