The money that once rested in Iowa now will flow across the Atlantic. Now comes DuPont to buy a major stake in Pioneer Hi-Bred International. The alliance, as it were, will form a powerful agent in crop breeding and biotechnology. There will be other seed varieties, of course, but it makes me wonder how long or how many of the smaller regional companies will survive. Des Moines probably will end up as a city of middle managers, a Mason City tenfold.
Wealth stays in Minnesota.
Fairly soon, Buena Vista County, my homeplace, will be served by only three or four farm suppliers. Time was when every little town had a seed and feed store or a cooperative. These enterprises brought vitality to small towns. One wonders if sooner than we think, there will be but one big chain of hog farms, owned by some outsiders, surrounding IBP's plant here. It has happened in poultry already.