1. In 1946 the county extension agent in New Mexico, decided to try hybrid seed corn as a way of improving the corn yield of farmers in his jurisdiction.

2. He persuaded leaders in one village to allow him to present information concerning a hybrid variety. Discussions with the farmers proved more successful than he had hoped. Forty of the 84 growers in the village planted small amounts of the hybrid and doubled the production per acre of the preceding year.

3. The following year 6o growers planted hybrid corn, and the county agent felt that the introduction had been successful.

4. In 1948, however, although the high yield had continued, only 30 farmers planted hybrid. The other 30 who had planted it the year before went back to the traditional variety.

5. In 1949 the decline in number of farmers planting the hybrid was even greater. Only three in the whole village planted it. They were farmers whom the county agent had long regarded as progressive. All the rest were growing the old corn, and the planting of hybrid had not spread to any other village.

Originally borrowed from the Indians, corn has long been a staple crop among Spanish American farmers of the New Mexico county. They grow it for their own consumption, selling none of it outside the villages. Formerly, like the Indian women of the region, the Spanish American women ground the corn on stone slabs. Now it is made into meal at local mills. From the meal thin, round cakes, called tortillas, are prepared which serve as a major item in the diet. Also when crops are relatively abundant, corn is fed to the stock, and the stalks are used as roughage for the animals.

The corn grown prior to 1946 is a variety developed locally, which the farmers call "Indian corn." It attains medium height, producing a minimum of roughage. Its average yield is 25 bushels to the acre and the farmers save their own seed from year to year, mostly without benefit of selection. The corn is planted in small irrigated fields, for which there is usually a plentiful supply of water.

The county agent’s relations with the farmers were good. He spoke Spanish in the same manner, was familiar with their background and agricultural practices, and had served as agent for several years immediately preceding this venture. The seed corn, he felt, had degenerated and he suspected that this was an important factor in keeping production low, lie decided to introduce a hybrid seed that was known for high yield and proceeded carefully, consulting with the college agronomist, who selected a variety—Hybrid U.S. 30—that had been tested in the immediate area. It was considered disease-resistant and capable of producing a good growth, averaging 100 bushels to the acre.

Then the agent discussed the problem of low corn yields with the leaders of the village, having chosen this particular community as a likely place for a good response. The men readily recognized the need for better production and were willing to think that, perhaps, their seed strain was weakening after long continuous propagation.

The soils of the fields used by this village were tested and found to be of good fertility, since here, as elsewhere in the area, it had been customary to use some manure yearly. After discussion with the leaders of the various problems involved, a meeting was called in order to present the county agent’s plan.

Everyone in the village was invited to the meeting. The agent showed movies of the hybrid corn and cartoons to enliven the demonstration. Then the leaders took over the meeting and explained in their own words the plan for introducing hybrid corn. All those present seemed to agree that the new seed was the answer to many of their problems and that they would be well able to afford the price of the seed, once it was available locally.

By special arrangement with a grower of seed, the new hybrid was furnished in exchange for the old seed. A demonstration plot which clearly showed a tripled crop was set up near the village, with the result that 40 farmers planted hybrid and each doubled his production the first year.

The whole procedure seemed to have been soundly based and to have got unusually rapid results. There was confirmation of this, when, in the following year, the county agent was able to report that 6o farmers, about three-fourths of all the growers in the village, had accepted the new seed. The seed was producing admirably; it was within their means and seemed a very profitable innovation.

Harper, Allan G., Andrew R. Cordoba, and Kalervo Oberg, Man and Resources in the Middle Rio Grande Valley. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1943.

Sanchez, George I., Forgotten People: A Study of New Mexicans. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1940.

Inquiry during 1949, after nearly all the farmers had gone back to planting "Indian corn," revealed the reasons for their rejecting the hybrid. The feeling of need for better yields was still strongly present. No one complained of lack of market for surpluses, which the extension agent had feared might be a factor. There had not, in fact, been any real surplus over the requirements of people and livestock. No one had had any particular difficulty in producing the new crop. All those who had grown it were still much impressed with the large yields, and some said it confirmed their belief that their own seed had become weakened through generations of inbreeding. Owing to increased production, there had been no difficulty in obtaining seed.

Gradually the agent secured responses to direct questions as to why those who had tried hybrid had not continued to plant it. The answer was simple. As one farmer said, "My wife doesn’t like that hybrid, that’s all." He and others explained that the new corn had not been popular from the first harvest. All the wives had complained. Some did not like its texture; it did not bang together well for tortillas; the tortillas were not the color of nixtamal (the corn flour dough to which they were accustomed). Few had cared for the flavor, but the farmers who persisted in planting it after the first year had hoped that they would get used to it. It made abundant food for the stock and they were reluctant to drop it for that reason. However, after three years they had not become accustomed to the flavor or texture, and their wives were up in arms.

This is an instance of careful procedure, up to a point, in the best tradition of agricultural extension in the United States. The agent moved slowly and carefully, and then only after a considerable period of observation and analysis of the specific local situation. He examined all the technical aspects of soil, growing conditions, and existing practices. A real need was felt for the new crop and he was able to induce farmers to formulate that need among themselves. He utilized local leadership and made no start until the people thoroughly understood what was to be done. He demonstrated procedure and results. It cannot be said that he ignored any of the well-tried, and often reiterated, rules of extension procedure.

Nevertheless, the agent’s exploration of the context of the change sought did not go quite far enough. He had paid attention to the relations between the agricultural technology and the environmental conditions, and to those between farming practices and the social organization of the community. He failed, however, to inquire into the food habits and their influence on the selection of crops. By experiment, as it was, he found that food habits could not be ignored. He learned that the interests and wishes of the village women had to be taken into account as an important factor in the agricultural economy. Finally, lie found that in the system of values of the community, corn quality was more important than corn quantity.

The agent had proceeded on the belief that increased farm production was the only important factor involved. He had not gone into the uses of the crop, nor had he tested it as a food prepared by the farmers in the usual manner.

He failed also to make allowance for the customary courtesy of the people, who were not used to correcting "experts" or to expressing themselves freely in the presence of the latter. On reflection the agent realized that some of the farmers had had doubts about the introduction, but had not felt that they should discourage his efforts.

It is probable that a successful procedure would have included the following steps:

1. Trial of several varieties of hybrid corn and the selection of one

2. More thorough testing of the corn to see how it fitted into the culture patterns

3. Continued demonstration of the advantages of the new seed

4. Close contact with the growers to detect any difficulties and to make modifications in the plan as needed

By these means the taste problem might have been detected earlier and met through the use of a more suitable type of hybrid.