Abstract
The main objective of this paper is to show the role played by the selection and creation of new wheat varieties in the process of constitution and territorial expansion of the US wheat production model from the 17th century until the end of the 19th century. The article suggests that these biological innovations allowed to increase the production and territorial extension of the wheat, they were key in the development of a commercial production on a large scale and contributed key empirical and methodological data for the constitution and institutionalization of a scientific agriculture at the beginning of the 20th century. These innovations were the result of very different efforts and experiences, from those personal, local or community accumulated over generations, to those based on the scientific, mathematical and methodological literature of the time.
Keywords:
standardization; scientific agriculture; wheat; varieties; hybrids; history of agriculture