Exotic, traditional and hybrid landscapes: The subtle history of the Iberian Peninsula maize between ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’

Abstract

Maize (Zea mays L.) in the Iberian Peninsula embodies a history of landscape changes where the concepts of ‘exotic’, ‘traditional’ and ‘hybrid’ help to under- stand the engagements between landscape, farmers, agronomists (since the 19th and 20th centuries) and seeds. Today, landscapes reveal biophysical and ecological changes that reflect a panoply of intentions. A multitude of agents, and their inter- actions, acted upon those territories over time. • Using historical sources from the leading institutions dedicated to agricultural research in the Iberian Peninsula, this paper aims to (1) contribute to a better understanding of the maize landscape and culture in the Iberian Peninsula and (2) interrogate how landscape changes (and the landscape history of maize) can frame local or regional heritage and identities reflecting customs or ways of life. • The analysis unveils networks of knowledge, agricultural technologies and seed exchange. Politicians, economists, engineers, agronomists, farmers, governmental officials and agricultural industries planned and transformed traditional rural prac- tices into modern and industrialised ones. Experts and politicians, willing to improve agricultural practices and seeds, using hybrid seeds or building new irriga- tion systems, led to deep social and landscape changes, allowing maize to cover territories far away from its traditional domains. Moreover, despite farmers' resis- tance, hybrid maize substituted landraces, eroding agrobiodiversity. Nowadays, the south and east regions of the Iberian Peninsula are the main producers of maize (hybrid), whereas in the Northwest maize is an occasional crop, being replaced by vineyards for economic reasons.