Handful of corn seed

Photograph taken by Joe Munroe of a farmer holding a handful of corn seeds, 1958. These seeds are a hybrid variety created through breeding to become bigger and more uniform. Due to its climate and soil conditions, the United States grows more corn than anyone in the world, and provides half of the world's corn supply. Corn is still the most widely-grown crop in the US. Joe Munroe's career began in 1939 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He served in the Air Force during World War II and then joined Cincinnati-based Farm Quarterly magazine. Though raised in Detroit, agriculture became an important subject of Joe's photographs. He moved to California in 1955 and free-lanced, taking magazine assignments and selling his own work