The Biggest Changes

I would rank development of hybrid seeds as the number one change in business in the last half-century, rather than putting productivity down at sixth place and agricultural increases as only part of that (“50/50,” by John Steele Gordon, June/July 2004). It was the hybrid seeds that made those agricultural improvements possible by allowing the development of plants able to resist drought and disease, while increasing production at rates higher than any other industry. This in turn released many people from the drudgery of food production, allowing them to go to college and help invent computers and the other nine categories. The results of hybrid seeds are present on every supermarket shelf and every dinner table.