Planting time again

It has started; pre-plant irrigation, experimental design, field marking and seed sorting. And so I begin another season of corn insect research. There is a certain kind of energy in this, perhaps as a reply to winter, but certainly in anticipation of learning more about corn insects in the coming year. Each year the work gets harder, probably because I am now 55 years old and still do my own field work. Other professors have crews of (young) laborers to do the field work, but I don't follow that path. I have found that being in the field and doing the work every day allows me to observe things that might be missed if I had stayed in the office. There is something that is right about working twelve hours in the heat and having the satisfaction of knowing that things were done throughly and well. Of course the downside is aching muscles, exhaustion and occasional back problems, but hey, I still have a few good years left, I hope.

The photo below shows the seed corn that will be in four experiments this year. I work with transgenic (GMO) corn and make no apologies to the Lunatic Fringe for that. This corn resists pest damage and lowers both insecticide use and losses to insects and has lower mycotoxin levels than conventional corn. Transgenics are the future, and this is how we are going to feed the increasing billions of people on earth in the coming years. (I have written about this in an older post here.) And yes, Monsanto and Pioneer are supporting my research; they are my allies in the goal to help grow more food for more people.

So it is on with the season. There will be many long, hot days ahead and I hope there are some important discoveries to be made.