Technical Change in Corn Production in the United States, 1870–1960

While total U.S. corn production increased until 1920, there is evidence of serious soil fertility depletion up to about 1940. The introduction of hybrid seed in the early 1930's partially obscured the fertility problem. But the economic significance of its solution by mechanization of the nitrogen cycle was clearly of far greater moment than the discovery of hybridization. The price support program for corn appears to have accelerated the rate of adoption of these and other irreversible changes in technique in the 1950's. In consequence, the real cost of producing corn has been decreased. This interpretation of the facts casts doubt on the reliability as well as the meaning of empirical estimates of changes in “factor productivity” in corn production.