Photo: Lindsay Eyink from San Francisco, CA, USA / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
For generations of Iowa teenagers, the first paid job was detasseling seed corn.
Seed companies plant rows of female and male corn plants. Workers pull the tassels from the female rows so they can only be pollinated by the male rows, which produces hybrid seed. Machines do much of the work, but crews still walk the fields to catch what the machines miss.
The work starts early in July, often at dawn, and lasts a few weeks. It’s hot, wet and tiring, and pays well for a teenager.
Wright County has a long history of seed corn production, and many local adults still talk about their detasseling summers.
Curt Hanneman writes for Clarion News Online.