We used to refer to wheat as the "political grain." However, it seems to have now been replaced by corn, which by any measurement is the largest and most important crop grown in the U.S. and, for that matter, the world. We used to refer to wheat as the "political grain." From the 1960s through much of the 1990s, U.S. wheat growers were arguably the most politically influential group of agricultural producers in the U.S. Their strong influence over certain U.S. agricultural policies and politics as well as the process of creating the quadrennial farm bill was legendary. One reason for this was the historical status of wheat itself -- the first crop cultivated by humans in pre-historic times, and wheat's image as the "staff of life." Another...