October 2016
Updates from the Field
Welcome to our new information exchange platform! We hope to keep you up to date with our latest corn breeding efforts. Here's a look at what we have been working on this fall.
September Field Day Success
We had great attendance to the GEI field day in Luther on September 15.  The topics of the presentations dealing with specialty corns brought in new information about the product qualities and benefits for their use as food or feed.  The use of each specialty corn was discussed in context with the possible benefits to be obtained.  The display of 30 hybrids in the field completed the understanding of the dynamics of the breeding efforts.  The lunch featured a menu with foods made from the appropriate specialty corns.
Taking a closer look at GEI 9717
Starting the day with a presentation on specialty corn hybrids
  Corn chips made with GEI 101 lys
Corn observation tour to look at the 30-hybrid display
Harvest Updates
We toured seed production fields of GEI hybrids at the end of August.  We were pleased with the seed yield prospects of the hybrids under production.  We expect ample amounts of seed of our new conventional hybrid GEI 9717.  We also expect sufficient amount of seed of our high lysine specialty hybrids, GEI 101 lys, and GEI 9887 lys.  We should have a good amount of GEI 9700 waxy and our high carotenoid hybrid, GEI 2318.  Seed harvest starts in early September to stay ahead of any possible freeze that can damage the seed.  With the changes in the weather patterns, this has not been a problem as the probability of early frost has diminished.
Seed Selections for your Farm
We have updated the website with information about the hybrid characteristics and the relative maturity hybrid placement for the Central Corn Belt of interest.  The individual hybrids in each specialty are described showing the important characteristics.  For conventional corn we are excited about our new hybrid GEI 9717 (RM 110), a hard endosperm hybrid with excellent yield, very good grain quality and very good tolerance to foliar diseases and good stress tolerance.  We recommend GEI 9700 (RM 108) as an early companion hybrid for GEI 9717. This hybrid’s main features are earliness, very good yield for maturity, stable yield, good stand ability and excellent drydown. For organic or transition to organic farmers, GEI offers an untreated seed option for all of our hybrids. Organic farmers can use the untreated seed exception for planting with the approval of their certifying Agency.