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Archaeologist Ruth Shady Solis, who studies the earliest known civilization in the New World at Caral in Peru, compares an early corncob with its modern cousin. All of our modern crops were domesticated from wild plants within the last twelve thousand years, and were genetically modified by early farmers long before GMOs became a controversial issue in the 1990s. Genetic archaeologists believe maize was domesticated some nine thousand years ago in southern Mexico from a lowland wild grass known as teosinte, as farmers crossed, recrossed, and selected the best plants from each harvest to plant for the next season. In doing so, they created a crop that feeds much of the planet and its livestock—even its cars through ethanol. The age-old process of crop and animal domestication inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection. Fortunately, many of our staple crops’ ancestors are still around, containing genes that could be useful in a warmer and more volatile climate, from flood tolerance to drought tolerance to disease resistance.

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Archaeologist Ruth Shady Solis, who studies the earliest known civilization in the New World at Caral in Peru, compares an early corncob with its modern cousin. All of our modern crops were domesticated from wild plants within the last twelve thousand years, and were genetically modified by early farmers long before GMOs became a controversial issue in the 1990s. Genetic archaeologists believe maize was domesticated some nine thousand years ago in southern Mexico from a lowland wild grass known as teosinte, as farmers crossed, recrossed, and selected the best plants from each harvest to plant for the next season. In doing so, they created a crop that feeds much of the planet and its livestock—even its cars through ethanol. The age-old process of crop and animal domestication inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection. Fortunately, many of our staple crops’ ancestors are still around, containing genes that could be useful in a warmer and more volatile climate, from flood tolerance to drought tolerance to disease resistance.

All images ©George Steinmetz. Please contact us for usage.