Cultivar · Maize heritage variety
Lancaster Sure Crop
Lancaster Sure Crop is a historic open-pollinated maize variety selected by the Hershey family in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is the namesake and germplasm source of the Lancaster (non-Stiff-Stalk) heterotic pool used in temperate hybrid maize.
Record
Cultivar / variety- Variety of
- Maize
- Botanical taxon
- Zea mays
- Type
- Open-pollinated heritage variety
- Breeding method
- Farmer selection from local dent maize
- Origin
- Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States
- Breeder / institution
- Pennsylvania farmer-breeders Isaac Hershey and his son
- Registry status
- Historical
- Registries
- USDA GRIN · United States · as of 2026-07-12Lancaster Sure Crop is represented in U.S. maize germplasm collections as a historical open-pollinated variety; specific record identifiers are not reproduced here.
- Adaptation
- Adapted to the temperate eastern United States; selected for early maturity and reliability in the Lancaster County region.
- Intended use
- Historical open-pollinated grain and feed corn, Foundation germplasm for the Lancaster (non-Stiff-Stalk) heterotic pool, Heritage and seed-saver cultivation
Registry listing or variety protection is jurisdiction- and date-specific and does not by itself indicate current commercial availability, universal cultivation approval, patent status, or a recommendation.
Lancaster Sure Crop is a heritage open-pollinated dent maize developed by Pennsylvania farmers of Lancaster County, principally Isaac Hershey and later his son, through selection of local corn over the second half of the 19th century into the early 1900s. Seed was offered commercially from about 1910.
The variety is historically important less for its own cultivation than as the source population of the "Lancaster" heterotic group. Lancaster-derived lines are used in temperate hybrid maize as complements to Stiff Stalk (Reid’s Yellow Dent heritage) lines, and a substantial share of North American hybrid pedigrees trace some ancestry to it.
Origin and history
Lancaster Sure Crop was developed through sustained farmer selection in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Hershey family selected for early maturity, reliability, uniformity, and ease of harvest, and the variety was being sold as seed by around 1910. It became widely grown in the eastern United States.
Significance for breeding
When inbred-hybrid maize breeding developed in the 20th century, Lancaster Sure Crop supplied the germplasm for the "Lancaster" (non-Stiff-Stalk) heterotic pool. Because temperate hybrids are typically made by crossing complementary heterotic pools, Lancaster-derived lines are paired with Stiff Stalk lines of Reid’s Yellow Dent heritage.
The public inbred Mo17, for example, is assigned to the Lancaster Sure Crop heterotic group, and its cross with the Stiff Stalk line B73 became a classic model of hybrid vigour.
Status today
Scope & limitations
Geographic scope: Originated in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; historically grown in the eastern United States and foundational to temperate maize breeding.
Climate context: Temperate open-pollinated dent maize selected for early maturity and reliability in the northeastern U.S.
- Dates and details of the variety’s development differ between historical sources; the account here reflects the commonly documented narrative.
- As an open-pollinated heritage variety, modern seed lots differ by source and selection history and are not a standardized, registered cultivar.
Sources
This article draws on the following authoritative sources. See our sources & methodology for how they are selected.
- [1]USDA ARS — Agricultural Research Service (opens in a new tab)Authoritative
USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Cited for: History of Lancaster Sure Crop and the Lancaster heterotic pool
- Type:
- Government agency
- Jurisdiction:
- United States
- Accessed:
- 2026-07-12
- [2]GRIN-Global / National Plant Germplasm System (opens in a new tab)Authoritative
USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Cited for: Representation of the variety in U.S. maize germplasm collections
- Type:
- Official registry
- Jurisdiction:
- United States / Global
- Accessed:
- 2026-07-12