Monocultures have shown a remarkable ability to stumble on. Subsidies, scientific innovations, and other tools have helped embattled production regimes, but they were typically solutions for a time and place: enduring stability is rare in the world of monoculture. It is entirely open whether the lingering problems of monocultures around the world are the prelude to an impending fall or whether monocultures can rumble on. We aim to write a history that makes sense in both scenarios.