Of all the animated productions from the Disney Studios produced during the WWII period, The Grain That Built A Hemisphere is by far one of the oddest. Other Disney war effort films encouraged people to pay their taxes or celebrated the American farmer's efforts, The Grain That Built A Hemisphere celebrates corn, which according to the film "...is a symbol of a spirit that links the Americas in a common bond of union and solidarity." The film was made as part of the ongoing efforts by the U.S. Government to bolster relations with Latin America during the war. Commissioned by the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA), The Grain That Built A Hemisphere was as much an educational film on breeding and growing corn as it was a history lesson on the development of corn across the Americas. In watching the film, it is a stretch by any measure to use corn as a way to “link” the Americas, after all the U.S. is neighbors with Latin America and that is enough of a bond.
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