The story
Founded by Henry A. Wallace in 1926, in Des Moines.1
History
In 1926, farm journal editor and future U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace, along with a group of Des Moines, Iowa businessmen, founded the Hi-Bred Corn Company. The group included Henry's brother James W. Wallace, Fred Lehmann, J. J. Newlin, Simon Casady Jr. and George Kurtzweil. Wallace had been experimenting with hybridization of corn and became convinced that hybrid seed corn would become important.
Several generations of the Casady family were shareholders or officers at Pioneer, including Simon Casady Jr.'s son Simon Wheeler Casady III, who was a Pioneer director, secretary, and major shareholder. Simon Casady Jr.'s wife Grace Margaret Wheeler Casady was also a major shareholder. Simon and Grace's daughters Hortense Oldfather and Rose Casady McCay were also shareholders. In 1973, the Casady family owned over one million Pioneer shares, accounting for 10.9% of all shares.
Timeline
1924 - Henry Wallace begins selling 'Copper Cross', an early commercial hybrid seed corn.
1926 - Hi-Bred Corn Company is founded in Des Moines, Iowa, with $7,000 in capital.
1931 - Roswell Garst agrees to produce/distribute seed. The following year Garst partners with Charles Thomas to form the Garst and Thomas Seed Corn Company.
1935 - "Pioneer" was added to the name of the company to distinguish it from other hybrid corn companies. The full name is "Pioneer Hi-Bred Corn Company".
1936 Pioneer founds Hy-Line Poultry Farms (later Hy-Line International) to produce hybrid egg-laying chickens. Henry B. Wallace (son of Henry A. Wallace) serves as president of Hy-Line until 1975.
1949 - Pioneer reaches annual sales of one million units.
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1964 - a research station is established in Jamaica.
1970 - The company name is changed to Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.
1973 - Becomes a publicly traded company.
1973 - Pioneer obtains a soybean product line through the purchase of Peterson Seed Company.
1975 - Purchases Lankhartt and Lockett companies (cotton seed business).
1977 - Pioneer acquires Microbial Products division to develop bacterial strains for inoculation into silage.
1978 - Hy-Line International is spun off.
1981 - Pioneer becomes the market-share leader in North America corn sales.
1982 - Annual sales pass the US$10 million mark.
1983 - The name of the soybean product line was changed from Peterson to Pioneer.
1991 - Pioneer purchases 2 million shares and establishes a partnership with Mycogen Seeds to develop Bt insect resistance in corn, sorghum, soybean, canola, sunflower, and other seeds. Pioneer sold the shares in 1998. Pioneer becomes the number one brand of soybeans in North America.
1992 - Pioneer paid $450,000 to Monsanto for rights to genetically modified soybean seeds that are resistant to RoundUp herbicide.
1993 - Pioneer paid $38 million to Monsanto for rights to Bt corn that is resistant to European corn borers.
1995 - Pioneer stock is listed on the NYSE as PHYB.
1996 - Pioneer acquires 20% stake in Sunseeds Co. (a hybrid vegetable seed producer) in exchange for Pioneer's vegetable seed operation.
1997 - DuPont acquires a 20% stake in Pioneer and the companies form a joint venture called Optimum Quality Grains LLC.
1999 - DuPont purchases the remaining 80% of Pioneer for $7.7 billion.
2006 - DuPont and Syngenta announce GreenLeaf Genetics LLC, a joint venture to market seed genetics and biotech traits.
2010 - DuPont and Syngenta end their joint venture, GreenLeaf Genetics LLC, with Syngenta retaining complete ownership.
2012 - Pioneer announces update to business name to be DuPont Pioneer.
2012 - Lawsuit regarding pesticides and dust by 200 residents of Waimea, Kauai against Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a DuPont company.
2012 - DuPont Pioneer completes acquisition of Panaar Seeds
2013 - DuPont agrees to pay Monsanto Co. at least $1.75 billion in a new licensing deal and both companies have agreed to dissolve their bitter legal battles over rights to technology for genetically modified seeds.
2014 - S&W Seed Company announces closing of acquisition of DuPont Pioneer alfalfa research and production assets.
2017 - Merges with Dow Agrosciences to form the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont.
2019 - The agriculture division is named Corteva and spun off from DowDuPont.
From Wikipedia’s article on Pioneer Hi Bred International, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.6