This is not an official government website.
© 2026 PLEJ LC. All rights reserved.
Congressional Daily Record
This section captures a floor statement or debate entry. It mentions members such as Charles Ernest Grassley.
Issued
April 28, 2026
senate side of the record
People
2
Linked members mentioned in this section
Legislation
0
No linked legislation in this section
Committees
0
No linked committees in this section
Senate Holds
0
No hold activity linked here
Source Document
Connected Data
People mentioned
Source Control
Reader mode is for comprehension. The linked government PDF is the official published source.
Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, 2026 is an opportunity to talk about the centennial progress in American agriculture and a famous Iowa family that was involved in that.
Henry C. Wallace, his son, was President Harding's Secretary of Agriculture, from 1921 until Henry's death in 1924. And then Henry C. Wallace had a son, Henry A. Wallace, who was Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of Commerce from 1933 to 1941, under Franklin Roosevelt's first two terms.
Harding, Henry A. Wallace was obviously a Democrat to serve in Franklin Roosevelt's Cabinet, and then he went on to be a Vice President during Franklin Roosevelt's third term.
In 1948, this same Henry A. Wallace was the Progressive Party's candidate for President of the United States, a time when Harry Truman was reelected President of the generation.
I am talking about their role in American agriculture and what it has meant for the production of corn today in the United States.
running through his veins. Henry's dad and grandfather—both named, as I said, Henry—cofounded a publication called “Wallaces Farmer,” a trusted farm journal for farmers across the Midwest.
business was incorporated. At that time, Iowan corn farmers planted seeds that they saved from the previous year, called open-pollinated corn. Yields were about 20 bushels per acre, from one year to the next, year after year.
States is about 25 bushel per acre, from the Civil War until the 1930s. That is when Wallace researched and made great progress in increasing yields.
So Henry A. Wallace, the famous Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President of the United States, revolutionized corn yields by crossing open-pollinated corn varieties. Together with an Iowa State University professor, he developed the Iowa Corn Yield Test. In 1924, Henry A. Wallace won the contest with a hybrid called Copper Cross.
work to accomplish his goals. His efforts would transform production agriculture, but, first, Henry needed markets for his new research and his product that resulted from that research.
customers. Those customers, of course, were the family farmers of that day. He adopted a farmer-to-farmer sales model.
and Pioneer is still a famous name for farmers in Iowa. And that company was the Pioneer Seed Corn Company until recently. A company named Corteva took it over.
So, Iowa, of course, is known as the “Tall Corn State,” thanks in large part to the adoption of hybrid corn. Henry A. Wallace helped corn farmers go from 20 bushels of corn per acre to now the average being over 200 bushels of corn per acre.
5-acre plots they do a lot of extra things to
per acre. And I don't know if that is going to be something that is going to be common, 20 years from now or maybe even 10 years from now, but we sure have made great progress.
producing about 50 bushels of corn per acre. More recently, we have reached the 200-bushel level.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.