Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Pioneer®
One of the most iconic brands in global agriculture is celebrating 100 years of innovation, collaboration and farmer productivity. Pioneer®, the flagship seed brand of Corteva, marked its 100th anniversary with a ceremony at its Global Seed Business Center in Johnston, Iowa, in April.
One hundred years is a significant achievement for any company but celebrating that milestone on the very land where the company started is truly unique. The Global Seed Business Center is located on the original farm owned by Henry A. Wallace and his wife, Ilo, and where the Hi-Bred Seed Corn Company was founded in 1926. The enterprise grew from humble beginnings to become the Pioneer® brand known globally today. A century later, that same land is still driving discovery, with labs, greenhouses and research plots dedicated to advancing yield, resilience and sustainability.
Pioneer brand seeds are planted by millions of farmers in more than 70 countries each year, its foundation and future remain deeply rooted in Iowa soil.
A vision that changed agriculture
The Wallace family was well-known in American agriculture. Henry A. Wallace’s grandfather, the Reverend Henry “Uncle Henry” Wallace, was the founding editor of Wallaces’ Farmer magazine, and his father, Henry C. Wallace, edited the magazine before serving as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.
In the early 1900s, the common practice for farmers was to select the best-looking and most uniform ears of corn to save for planting again. Fifteen-year-old Henry A. Wallace questioned this practice and began running his own field tests to prove that there was no relationship between yield and appearance of the ears of corn.
Wallace studied genetics while at Iowa State College and began working on corn breeding experiments where he developed a hybrid line named “Copper Cross” that outyielded current varieties and became the first hybrid corn line to win the gold medal in the Iowa Corn Yield Contest in 1924.
When the Hi-Bred Corn Company was established, it was the first company in the world to develop, grow and sell hybrid seed. The company name was changed to Pioneer Hi-Bred Corn Company in 1935.
The company’s early leaders collaborated to bring Wallace’s vision to reality, creating a company built on both science and service. Nels Urban created the Pioneer agency model, placing local sales representatives in rural communities. Raymond Baker advanced plant breeding methods, establishing rigorous testing and local research programs. The Pioneer corn germplasm that was used to breed hybrid seed corn in 1926 has become the foundation of one of the largest and deepest corn germplasm libraries in the world. In fact, the genetics of today’s corn hybrids can all be traced back to the original inbreds developed by Wallace and Baker.
The results were powerful as adoption of hybrid corn in Iowa skyrocketed from just 6% in 1935 to nearly 100% in the early 1940s.
Growth and innovation
In the decades that followed, Pioneer paved the way for increased productivity with innovations in genetics, research and seed production practices and more. Annual sales of Pioneer seed corn in North America passed the million-unit mark in 1949 and expanded into additional crops and countries around the world.
Pioneer was the first company to focus on improving drought tolerance in corn with the opening of its York, Nebraska, research center in 1958, led biotech stewardship with approval to sell the first integrated refuge management solution in 2010 and unlocked genetic potential of corn and other crops with new technologies.
Sam Eathington, chief technology officer, Corteva, highlighted the importance of research innovation in his remarks at the celebration ceremony held in Johnston, where he stated, “Through hybridization and the Pioneer business model, Wallace’s innovation and the wider contributions that breeders like Baker and more made, didn’t just increase corn yields, it changed the trajectory of the crop and agriculture as we know it,” he said. “Hybrid corn broke that initial yield ceiling and it continued to lift yield averages every decade since.”
In the 2025 growing season, U.S. average corn yield surpassed 180 bushels per acre for the first time in recorded history, reaching 186.5 bushels per acre, said Eathington.
“This story is not just about productivity, it is also about possibility,” he said. “Hybridization and its yield gains have led to greater sustainability in agriculture, preserving land, preserving resources like fertilizer and water and expanding uses of the crop, including in food, feed and fuel.”
Today, Pioneer maintains its leadership position as the No. 1 corn and soybean brand in the United States by market share. The company holds world records for yield performance across multiple crops, including corn, soybeans and dryland sorghum, and the use of new technologies like AI, automation and gene-editing ensures that innovation will continue well into the future, driving productivity and profitability for farmers.
At the recent celebration held in Johnston, Judd O’Connor, executive vice president, Seed Business, stated, “For 100 years, Pioneer has earned trust by taking the Long Look—by doing what’s right for farmers, for communities, and for the future of agriculture. And as we’ve seen today that mindset is something our people continue to embody every single day, around the world. So, this isn’t just a celebration of the past. It’s a commitment to the amazing future we have ahead of us.”
Published May 2026