Show Notes
In this episode we look back at the history of agriculture to help inform the future. Specifically, we explore how genetics have propelled the current agriculture industry and how we can leverage that technology to solve future problems producers will face.
Agriscience digital seed lead and distinguished laureate Dean Podlich joins the show to share his perspective of the historical development of crop hybrids as the overseer of digital solutions to help develop seed products with Corteva Agriscience.
“ If you go back a hundred years ago, the average bushels per acre in the US is somewhere between 25 and 30 bushels per acre. You fast forward to today, it's in the high 170s. So you're talking about a 7x increase in productivity on the farm over the last a hundred years. And, and that in itself, it's just an incredible story. It's really one of the best examples of innovation and technology as an industry in the history of agriculture, and that's happening for corn in the US.” - Dean Podlich
Two farmers are also included in this episode. Illinois producer Heather Hampton-Knodle shares the economic concerns that are on the minds of many farmers. David Hula who farms in Virginia describes the importance of genetics on all of his acres, including his world record corn yield of 623.8439 bushels per acre with a hybrid from Corteva Agriscience.
“Our corn is handling the droughts much better. Part of it is management, but the corn themselves are doing better…The corn hybrids are clearly better from disease, standability, stay green, drought tolerance, and of course yield.” - David Hula
The episode explores historical advancements in crop genetics, emphasizing the significance of Henry Wallace's work with hybrids and Raymond Baker's contributions to germplasm. Today, scientists and farmers continue to build on their work with modern tools, including digital tools and gene editing, to enhance productivity and sustainability on farms.
Some takeaways from this episode include: The combined history that has led to a 7x increase in productivity on the farm due to the combination of genetics and management components Raymond Baker’s work to take throwaway inbreds and turn them into the Iowa yield contest winners. The fact that the germ plasm from Raymond Baker have been evolved to the high yielding hybrids we benefit from today. This underscores the fact that innovation often leads to more and quicker future discoveries and improvements. Digital being an important part of the process to improve genetics and dating back at least to the 1950s. That long history of data enables scientists to take full advantage of modern tools like gene editing and artificial intelligence. Agriscience Explained is a podcast brought to you by Corteva Agriscience. Host Tim Hammerich visits with both scientists and farmers about how agricultural innovations are discovered, developed and deployed on the farm.
More from Agriscience Explained
Please send us your feedback on the podcast: [email protected] In this episode, we look back on the past 100 years, and highlight what will carry over into this next chapter in the company’s history. Corteva Agriscience chief technology and digital officer Sam Eathington and some really special guests discuss the past, present and future of agriscience innovation.
Dr. Carla Yerkes joins us to help us tell the story of Rinskor and explain the process of herbicide innovation and the persistence and creativity it takes to develop new solutions for farmers. Yerkes is a research biologist at Corteva Agriscience and has a Ph.D. in herbicide physiology. She has spent about half of her 30 year career in herbicide discovery research and the other half in herbicide trait discovery.
What is happening in agriscience today that we will be talking about 100 years from now? While it’s impossible to answer that question with certainty, there is a technology that has the potential to impact our industry in the next century as much or even more than hybridization changed the game over the past century. That technology is genome editing. The promise of this technology is very real and today you’re going to hear firsthand accounts of what changed in 2012 and 2013 to make all of this possible, what did it look like to test the technology in plant breeding, and what does the strategy look like to turn this science into better solutions.
In today’s episode, we’re following a molecule around the world, from being discovered in Japan to being developed in the United States to becoming a solution for farmers in the United Kingdom. Joining us is one of those farmers in the UK, Julian Gibbons. Julian has seen a variety of fungicide solutions come and go for important wheat diseases like Septoria tritici, or speckled leaf blotch. He’s really excited about the potential for a relatively newly registered product derived from a natural compound called Inatreq Active™. And the story of the need for Inatreq and the road to getting this product to farmers is the focus of today’s episode.
We celebrate the 100th year anniversary of Pioneer Seeds, and take a look back at the history of hybridization. The process may seem simple: to take two varieties or even species and cross them together to create more desirable offspring. But the concept of controlled hybridization, intentionally transferring pollen from a chosen male parent to a chosen female parent, is relatively new in the history of agriculture. But it has been nothing short of revolutionary.