Corn Agronomy – by an agronomist, about corn

This year marks the 51st year of corn-hybrid performance evaluation conducted by the Wisconsin Agronomy Department – now the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences, the Wisconsin Crop Improvement Association and the seed industry. The first Wisconsin public corn-performance trials were conducted by Elwood Brickbauer in 1973. In 1995 the corn-silage-hybrid evaluation program was initiated.

Hybrid selection is a key decision made by farmers and historically is important for delivering new technologies, pest resistance, and increased yield and profitability to the farm-gate. The purpose of the program is to provide unbiased performance comparisons of hybrid seed corn available in Wisconsin for both grain and silage.

Grain and silage performance trials were planted in 2023 at 14 locations in four production zones – southern, south-central, north-central and northern zones. Both seed companies and university researchers submitted hybrids.