Three generations of Iowa agriculture — the family that founded hybrid seed corn, ran Wallaces' Farmer, and gave the nation a Vice President.
The Wallaces were Iowa's first family of agriculture for three generations. “Uncle Henry” Wallace founded the farm journal Wallaces' Farmer in the 1890s; his son Henry Cantwell Wallace served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in the 1920s.
The most famous was Henry A. Wallace (1888–1965). A plant geneticist as well as an editor, he developed some of the first commercial hybrid seed corn and in 1926 founded the Hi-Bred Corn Company in Des Moines — later Pioneer Hi-Bred. He went on to serve as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (1933–1940), the 33rd Vice President of the United States under Franklin Roosevelt (1941–1945), and Secretary of Commerce.
The hybrid seed corn Henry A. Wallace helped commercialize transformed world agriculture and helped drive the yield gains of the 20th century. As Vice President and a cabinet officer, he shaped New Deal farm policy and championed global food security.
The company he founded remains one of the largest seed businesses in the world and a cornerstone employer of the Des Moines metro.
The Wallace family is based in Des Moines, Iowa. Pioneer Hi-Bred grew into a global seed company, now Corteva Agriscience, headquartered in Johnston
1926.
Henry A. Wallace (1888–1965) — founder of Pioneer Hi-Bred; U.S. Secretary of Agriculture; 33rd Vice President of the United States
Curious about your own family's story? We trace it through the public record and write it up as a documented history.
See how it works →This profile presents only publicly reported facts, drawn from the sources above. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the family or its companies.
Portrait: Wikimedia Commons (public domain or freely licensed).