One of the biggest turning points in corn's history came about after World War II. A factory in Alabama had a large amount of ammonium nitrate, the main ingredient in manufacturing explosives, left over after the war. Because ammonium nitrate also happens to be an excellent source of nitrogen for plants, the Department of Agriculture thought it would be great to use as fertilizer on farmland. In addition to chemical fertilizers, pesticides were developed from an excess of poisonous gases. Hybrid corn, which was bred to stand up straighter and grow much closer together, loved the chemical fertilizers.
