Dairyland Seed’s Corn Product Selection Process

Have you ever wondered how Dairyland Seed selects our corn hybrids? It truly is a year-long process that culminates with the chosen few. I have been fortunate to be involved with product selection for twenty-eight years and my Golden Rule is this: Understand who you are as a company, the geography you sell in and the personality of your sales force. Once you have this understanding, you have the framework for product selection.

Commercializing a product is not done in a vacuum. With each new launch, there is a trickle-down effect through the lineup. It is like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle. We continually evaluate performance, trait mix, genetic mix and producibility. By the end of the process, all the pieces need to fit together to create a competitive portfolio. Keeping balance in the portfolio is called life cycle management. We would like to have a similar number of new products coming into the lineup to those that are being dropped.

Data is the lifeblood of product selection and portfolio management. Having a system in place to understand performance is critical. At Dairyland Seed, we invest heavily in our plot systems and database analytics. Both give us a key advantage in the industry. Performance is not static. However, Mother Nature can waylay the best of portfolio management plans. This is where the Dairyland Seed’s Agronomy Team plays a huge role in our advancement process. They are highly involved in providing regional product performance and insights throughout the advancement process.

At Dairyland Seed, we work closely with Corteva Agriscience™ to provide the best possible genetics to our customers.

Eric Boersma, Corn Lead for Corteva Multi-Channel Seeds, was recently quoted at our Key Producer Summit saying, “We work hand in hand with Dairyland to understand their portfolio needs and work hard to deliver a menu of products for them to choose from that will fit their geography.”

Working with Eric and his team is an important part of the process. The better they know Dairyland Seed, the better they can dig through the pipeline and bring products for Dairyland Seed to select from. We are in constant communication regarding performance, gaps, and needs. It really is a team effort.

Dairyland Seed’s performance has never been better, and I do not anticipate it slowing down any time soon.