Pioneer’s 100th anniversary is a testament to the power of science and innovation to improve the world, Corteva Agriscience CEO Chuck Magro told hundreds of current and former employees gathered to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Pioneer seed brand.
Iowan Henry A. Wallace established what would become Pioneer Hi-Bred Corn Co. using 40 acres near Johnston to grow the company’s revolutionary hybrid seed. It eventually became a foundational part of Corteva, though
“Pioneer’s story is a classic story… an inspiring story,” Magro told those gathered Monday, April 20, at the Johnston facility where the Indianapolis-based company’s 3,000-employee Iowa seed research and development operation remains centered. Wallace, “a farm kid, took a good idea, worked their butt off, had courage and changed the world,” he said.
Pioneer took corn yields from about 25 bushels per acre in the 1920s to roughly 180 bushels now, a sevenfold increase, Magro said.
“We’re serving 10 million farmers around the world, which is truly remarkable,” he said. “But Pioneer is even more that. Pioneer is about an idea, the idea that science and innovation can change the world.
“That science is a pathway to a better future, and it’s also a promise that the future will have more abundance, more prosperity for everyone,” said Magro, whose visit came as Iowa and Johnston officials lobby to host the headquarters of a forthcoming spinoff of Corteva’s seed business. “So all of that — the idea, the ingenuity, the hard work, the valor, and most important, that promise — is in every bag that we produce today and have produced over the last 100 years.”
Employees, most wearing green Pioneer anniversary T-shirts, visited a room filled with Pioneer memorabilia, listened to farmers and employees across the world talk about the seeds’ importance, and had their pictures taken with a new sculpture of the Pioneer brand, unveiled Monday with fireworks.
Here are some of the other comments from speakers during Corteva’s Pioneer celebration.
Pioneer’s history is intertwined with Iowa farmers’ stories
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said he loves giving away century awards at the Iowa State Fair, recognizing families who have operated their farms for 100 years, and heritage awards to those whose farm ownership reaches 150 years.
A farm endures because of the family’s “knowledge and experience and values and connection to the land, a deep sense of pride that’s passed down from one generation to the next,” said Naig, who grew up on a farm in northwest Iowa.
“Along with that comes a commitment to continuous improvement, a drive to always do better, to care for the land, to strengthen an operation, to leave something better than you found it,” he said. “That sounds an awful lot like Pioneer doesn’t it?”
Naig said Pioneer is “literally part of the story of many of those century farms.”
“Grandparents, parents and sons and daughters are making decisions on those same acres, relying on the same trusted name,” he said. “And that kind of relationship doesn’t get built quickly. It’s built through performance, it’s built through trust, it’s built through a shared commitment to progress, year after year.”
Can future seed scientists push corn record to 1,000 bushels per acre?
Sam Eathington, Corteva’s chief technology officer, said Wallace — who became U.S. agriculture secretary and was later elected vice president — “questioned the status quo.”
That’s what innovative plant breeders and others across the company have done since him, Eathington said. “They look at new technology, just like Wallace did 100 years ago,” he said.
So “50 years from now, there’s going to be a group… and they’ll be celebrating again, with new technology like gene editing and AI that we’re just starting to apply to this system.”
“And we’re going to be talking about 300 bushels, actual acreages,” Eathington said. “We’re going to be looking at corn record yields approaching 1,000 bushels per acre. Imagine that. It would be pretty incredible. And I have no doubt that a Pioneer corn hybrid will be leading the way.”
Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Corteva CEO Chuck Magro marks Pioneer centenary with Johnston visit
Reporting by Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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