I grew up in a small town in Iowa. In fact, I spent half my life there. What a magical place to grow up playing baseball. The second half of my life was spent living, working, and building in the biggest cities on the planet: Chicago, New York, LA, Dallas, Nashville, London, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, the list goes on.

In short, I put in the time and did the research. The truth about what I found may surprise you.

Iowa, if you didn’t know, makes corn. Surprisingly, on a size basis, Iowa is the largest producer of corn on the planet, creating more than many countries. Further, corn is the most important platform on the planet.

It underpins global food systems, livestock production, industrial manufacturing, and energy. It is used for ethanol, sweeteners, starches, bioplastics, pharmaceuticals, adhesives, textiles, and thousands of industrial products. Corn is used extensively throughout the electronics manufacturing supply chain.

But you never hear about Iowa, so why is that?

During both world wars, Iowa kept making corn. When Nixon took the US dollar off the gold standard, Iowa kept making corn. During the Great Depression, Iowa kept making corn. During the dot com bust, September 11th, the great financial crisis, and Covid, Iowa just kept on making corn.

Markets collapsed. Governments changed. Money changed. The world changed. But Iowa didn’t, and kept producing the critical infrastructure product the world needed. Eat your heart out Y Combinator.

But the reason you never hear about Iowa, or what it’s done for humanity, is because it’s always been there. Like oxygen.

If there was a small area on this planet that was responsible for most of the oxygen produced on the planet, humans would probably value that place and protect it. Otherwise, it would be game over for the civilization.

The people who made that oxygen would probably be global celebrities and trillionaires based on how important it was to everything else on the planet. Quite literally, their hard work, sacrifices, and strong core values created the platform that makes all other platforms possible.

Instead, the planet’s billionaires make space stuff and AI stuff and delivery stuff and social media stuff.

Funny how us humans have our priorities completely screwed up.

Did you know where computers were invented? Between 1939 and 1942, the first electronic digital computer was invented in Iowa, called the Atanasoff-Berry Computer. Silicon Valley simply wouldn’t exist without Iowa.

The CEO chosen to take over from Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway lives in, you guessed it, Iowa.

Casey's, an Iowa convenience store, founded more than half a century ago, is now a Fortune 500 company traded on the Nasdaq.

The menswear fashion designer Todd Snyder, who’s all over the pages of GQ, was born in Iowa.

Apple’s retail store concept originated from Gateway 2000 Computers, which was founded in Sioux City, Iowa, my hometown. Interestingly, George Foreman recently chose to be laid to rest in Sioux City.

Dozens of Pulitzer Prize winners and National Book award winners came from the world’s leading creative writing program at the University of Iowa. Not to mention its domination in the sport of wrestling.

Iowa has influenced politics, as presidential races began in the state.

Did you know Iowa has produced many astronauts, including Peggy Whitson, who has spent more time in space than any other American?

But how many AI labs making headlines around the planet do you hear talking about corn or Iowa?

Get rid of Iowa, you get rid of everything. No NVIDIA, no Apple, no Berkshire, no SpaceX, no Fortune 1000, no creative writing, no space exploration, no Wall Street, no startups, no nothing.

You know that sports tradition of dumping a cooler of Gatorade over the coaches head after a win? Guess where that cooler was made :)

Heck, even those premium windows and doors you bought for your home are likely made in Pella, Iowa.

Iowa is one of the most important and influential places on the planet, and has been for at least a century, but our species has been taking it for granted.

I am proudly Made by Iowa. It’s the field of dreams.

—Sean

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