Jenkins' Favorite Story of 2024

Editor's Note:

As the year comes to a close, we've once again asked the DTN/Progressive Farmer reporting team to pick out the most significant, most fun or otherwise their favorite story of 2024. They include solar events, wildfire recovery, political/policy coverage and profiles of American farmers and ranchers who shared their marketing, production and even life choices with our writers. We hope you enjoy our writers' favorites, continuing the series with today's story by DTN Crops Editor Jason Jenkins.

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (DTN) -- When does a corn crop have its highest yield potential? If your answer is, "when the seed is still in the bag," you're close, but you should read (or reread) my favorite story from 2024.

While it's true that every management misstep from planting to harvest can limit bushels in the bin at the end of the season -- and that Mother Nature will either help or hinder the crop along the way -- the true yield potential of any corn hybrid begins well before that seed is stitched up inside a bag or poured in a pro box.

It begins with the process by which it is produced.

In the fall of 2023, I was given a behind-the-scenes look at how Wyffels Hybrids, a family-owned company based in Geneseo, Illinois, goes about offering a portfolio of nearly 90 individual corn hybrids each year. The story was published in this year's September issue of Progressive Farmer, which we annually dub as our "Seed Issue."

The genesis for this story occurred more than two years ago. As the editorial staff brainstormed ideas for the "Seed Issue," I wondered what it took for companies to deliver seed corn to farmers each season. While I had a general idea, I didn't know exactly what steps were involved, and I wondered if our readers might be in the same boat. I proposed a story that would explain the process simply, something akin to the 1970s "School House Rock!" episode, "I'm Just a Bill," that no doubt taught countless youngsters about the legislative process -- including yours truly.

While my prose in the final story was admittedly less lyrical, I hope it successfully explained how companies such as Wyffels take germplasm with desired traits and ultimately turn it into the seeds that farmers plant. Without their care and attention to detail through every step in the process, a farmer's yield potential would certainly suffer.

This story was my favorite of the past year for a couple of reasons. As a teenager too young to drive, detasselling seed corn was one opportunity I had to earn some spending cash during the summer. However, when you're on a detasseling crew, you're not around to see what happens with the resulting seed. Getting inside Wyffels' production facility was eye-opening and gave me a greater appreciation for the entire process.

The other reason was much more personal. I grew up less than an hour's drive from Wyffels' headquarters. In fact, I had a great aunt who lived in Geneseo. While I don't have as much family in the region now as I once did, the assignment allowed me to stop along my drive back home and visit my now-95-year-old maternal grandfather, a retired farmer. On that late afternoon, I shared what I learned with him, and he recounted memories of growing seasons past and the struggles they overcame. It's amazing to contrast the evolution of agriculture from his generation to mine, and I cherish every opportunity I'm afforded to learn from his near century of experience.

You can read my story, "A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Hybrid Corn Production," https://www.dtnpf.com/… as it appeared a month later on DTN as part of our Savvy Seed Decisions series.

You can see a Reporter's Notebook video where I talked more about my experience visiting Wyffels Hybrids at https://www.dtnpf.com/….

To see the whole Savvy Seed Decisions series on DTN, you can go to the last story in the series, "Seed and Trait Companies Reveal What's Coming to the Field," https://www.dtnpf.com/…, and at the bottom of the story are links to the five other stories in the series).

To see a Reporter's Notebook where I talked about the whole seed series, see https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Jason Jenkins can be reached at jason.jenkins@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @JasonJenkinsDTN

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