The Beck's facility in Mount Pleasant, IA. (Chris Lusvardi)
For more information, see the Fourth Quarter issue of Seed Today.
By Chris Lusvardi
I spent three days throughout the growing season learning about the various stages of Beck’s corn production in and around Mount Pleasant, IA.
Mount Pleasant is one of Beck’s sites focused on hybrid seed corn production, along with Atlanta, IN; El Paso, IL; and Coon Rapids, IA.
On my first visit, Corn Grower Manager Adam Smith and Production Location Manager Blake Smith detailed a list of 30 steps of what is done during the production process. Each step in the process is important in order to meet the year’s seed supply goals.
We shared the stories about how the season went at seedtoday.com along with photos and video on our social media sites.
A story to conclude the series about the seed corn harvest and a look inside the Mount Pleasant production plant as the corn is brought in from the fields is featured in this issue of Seed Today.
The Grower’s Point of View
The visits to Mount Pleasant provided me with an opportunity to spend time chatting with the operators of the equipment in the fields.
They talked about how and what they do and what they’re able to monitor and control from their seats.
They need to be able to use the latest technology and be comfortable using GPS in the fields.
They have a lot of data available to make adjustments as needed to make sure their part of the process is properly completed.
Operating the equipment is not as easy as it would seem as conditions can vary within the fields. As I found out, it’s not always a smooth ride.
Despite all the advancements in technology, crews moving through the fields complete some of the work by hand such as detasseling.
Completing the Process
One of the first things Adam Smith told me was about the coordination that takes place to make each step of the process happen.
He explained that despite efforts to keep equipment and crews moving between fields in an orderly fashion, the weather dictates when everything happens.
Growers had to adjust to rainy weather during the planting stage, then pick up from high winds causing crop damage as detasseling was underway in July.
Yet Smith and the growers he works with find a way to get it all done. They were happy with the progress that was made throughout the season to keep the process on schedule and yield potential on track.
With amount of time spent in the fields throughout the season and the process they go through to make readings, Smith says they usually have an accurate idea of yield estimates. Still, he says it can be hard to keep up with the pace of harvest with little to slow it down.
By the time the season was wrapping up in October, conditions had dried with little rain over the course of a month.
As a result, harvest was going smoothly and so much seed corn had been produced, they needed to find places to put it all in order for it to be processed and shipped to its ultimate destination – into the fields of growers.
Once harvest wrapped up, the Beck’s team has little time to rest. They are planning for and looking forward to making changes to improve the process for the next growing season.