In today’s episode, what does it take to build a world record hybrid? And why does it take so long to develop new hybrids? We follow the journey of the seed from inbreds to hybrids to traits to production to commercial products.

Our guide on this journey of the seed will be Corteva Agriscience digital seed lead and distinguished laureate Dean Podlich. You heard from Dean in our last episode about the history of agriscience innovation as it relates to genetics. Today, you’ll get a peak into what all goes into the latest and greatest in crop genetics, specifically as it relates to corn. Dean describes all of this work, this journey of a seed to preparation for the main event, which is what happens on farms every year across the world.  

“ This is what drives this long-term genetic gain: this constant obsession about creating new variation, measuring it in all the ways that we described, and identifying ones that are going to be superior on the farm and continuing that process over and over again.” - Dean Podlich

Virginia farmer David Hula joins the show to highlight what can happen when quality genetics meets excellent management practices. Hula earned world record corn yield of 623.8439 bushels per acre with a hybrid from Corteva Agriscience. 

“ That is probably the most stressful time that I have is picking the hybrids. Because we try to position hybrids for particular acres.” - David Hula

 The journey of a seed is rigorous, nuanced, and complex. It starts with a seemingly infinite number of possibilities and involves slowly narrowing those down through what Dean Podlich describes as a gauntlet process to eventually end up with a couple dozen products with potential.

Some takeaways from this episode include: 

1. There is so much that goes into the journey of a seed, from the germplasm to prediction and selection to hybrids to transgenes and the regulatory process that comes with that to production and commercialization. It’s a multi-year global process that requires an enormous effort along the way. 
2. The analogy of the R&D process being like preparing for the Olympics.  All of the work that goes into the agriscience and innovation is important, but the race still needs to be run on the farm.
3. David Hula’s paradigm of recruiting and surrounding themselves with the right team. It fits well with this Olympics theme. These relationships are more than just company/customer, they should be a trust-based collaborative effort to maximize productivity and profitability on the farm. 

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.