An employee of Ailes Detasseling walks through a seed corn field near Utica, Neb., in 2024. Detasseling is seen as a rite of passage for Midwest teenagers, but in recent years, more of the detasseling ...

GENESEO, Ill. — David Powell spent the last 13 July's walking through corn fields. He's one of about 18 people detasseling corn at a Geneseo research field for Wyffels Hybrids. His average of about 17 ...

Two of our three daughters, and my wife as a high schooler, engaged in the infamous corn country summer employment that thousands of teenagers have participated here in the Midwest: Detasseling.

There were fewer local workers detasseling seed corn in Iowa in 2025 than in previous years as the number of temporary migrant laborers with H-2A visas doing the jobs increased, according to data ...

According to Rader Detasseling, the top or the tassel of the corn plant is pulled by the detasseler so the plant cannot pollinate itself. The tassel is the male part of the corn plant. The ear shoot ...

For the most part, detasseling — a repetitive process in which workers pull the tassel off many stalks of corn in a row — requires human hands. Enter labor contractors. In a 2022 ESG report, Corteva ...

OMAHA (AP) - Abi Swanson is a self-described girly girl who's doing hard labor. The 13-year-old from Lincoln is saving money for ballet lessons, so she's been slogging through eastern Nebraska farm ...

DEWEY, Ill. (AP) -- For migrant workers and teens on summer break, mid-July in central Illinois means one thing: corn detasseling. For a few weeks every summer, crews of workers trudge through wet and ...

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Nebraska lawmakers moved one step closer Tuesday to clarifying that seed corn producers in Nebraska should hire local youths for detasseling before using temporary, nonimmigrant ...

Short corn could replace towering 12-foot stalks as farmers adjust to changing climate Short corn offers farmers a variety that can withstand powerful windstorms that could become more frequent due to ...