Stories From the Field

Jon Riley, Monsanto

Since its founding, the DEKALB® brand has been known for strong roots, strong stalks and strong yields in the field. As part of the 100th year anniversary, farm families across the nation are sharing their memories and reconnecting with the legendary “winged ear” and the generations of memories they have made with DEKALB. One such example is the Riley family of Stoddard County, Missouri.

Using a team of two horses and a Blackhawk planter, George Riley planted his first crop ever – DEKALB corn. It was some of the first hybrid corn on the market, and it proved to be a successful. His DEKALB crop yielded 98.22 bushels per acre and won him a place in the 1949 DEKALB Corn Growing Contest. In honor of his achievement, DEKALB awarded Riley a special plaque with the infamous winged ear symbol.

When George passed away, his grandson Jon Riley asked to have the plaque because it held a special place in so many of his childhood memories.

“The idea of a flying ear of corn was really cool to me,” recounts Jon.

As a child, Jon could not have possibly imagined how much that same flying earl of corn would play a part in his life. Jon has made his living by working for Monsanto Company. Starting as an intern and working his way up to Key Account Manager; he has shared his love for the agriculture industry. The legendary plaque now hangs proudly in Jon’s office.

Jon’s dad and brother still farm a 2,000-acre farm in Missouri where they continue to plant DEKALB seed.

“Monsanto has changed farming in so many ways since when my grandfather started planting DEKALB corn back in the late 40’s,” says Jon’s brother, Jim. “Thinking about today’s technology and the things Monsanto has brought to farming has been a pretty exciting journey that I am proud to have been a part of.”

George Riley would be proud to see how far his agricultural roots and the DEKALB brand have come.

Ag Accomplishment Award

Jeff Simmons, New York

Since 1947, the DEKALB ®Agricultural Accomplishment Award has been recognizing outstanding high school seniors demonstrating agricultural excellence and achievement. Though many things have changed in the 65 years the award has been given, the caliber of students chosen has not. Many continue this excellence long after high school.

Jeff Simmons, winner of the DEKALB Agricultural Accomplishment Award in 1985 from Penn Yan FFA in New York, is one of those former students. Simmons, who currently serves as the global president of Elanco, a leading, global animal health company, has been pursuing his agricultural passions ever since and embodying the spirit of the DEKALB brand’s commitment to excellence in agriculture.

Growing up in New York, Simmons was heavily involved with the family grape farm and local FFA chapter. Simmons credits FFA and the award to leading him to look beyond the farm. He says: “It opened my eyes that there was more to agriculture than a grape farm in upstate New York.”

Simmons continued demonstrating his dedication to the industry as he studied agricultural economics and marketing at Cornell University. After graduating in 1989, Jeff began his career with Elanco.

Simmons began as a sales representative then moved through a variety of sales and marketing positions both internationally and domestically. In 2008, he became the global president of Elanco. In addition to his role as president he also serves in numerous leadership positions, including serving on the board of directors for Chiquita and Gleaners Food Bank of Central Indiana.

Simmons not only demonstrates his passion for agriculture through his corporate experience but also in his personal endeavors. In his time spent internationally, he began to see the need for solutions to global hunger. Specifically during a trip to Kenya in 2009, he came face to face with hunger in the world. This urged him to begin working toward finding solutions. He embarked on his mission with a blog, Plenty to Think About, which serves as a forum for collaborating onwhat it will take to solve the problem of hunger. This initiative can be followed online at http://www.plentytothinkabout.org.

Simmons is passionate about the duty of agriculture to provide food to an ever-growing population. He says, “I’ve never been so fired up as now about providing safe, abundant and affordable food. Brands like DEKALB and companies like Elanco hold the keys to this mission.”

His experiences in agriculture from being a member of FFA to being the president of an international company have allowed him to get where he is today, and he hopes it does the same for current students. He says, “I credit the DEKALB Agricultural Accomplishment Award for inspiring future agricultural leaders to stay in the industry and increase their influence.”

Ag Accomplishment Award

Emily Horn, Waynetown, IN

The DEKALB® brand has a long-standing tradition of recognizing student agricultural excellence and achievement through the DEKALB Agricultural Accomplishment Award program. Established in 1947, the annual DEKALB award recognizes outstanding high school seniors across the U.S from some of the nation’s best agricultural education programs.

For the past 65 years, DEKALB has remained committed to the advancement of ag youth, who represent the future of farming and will play a key role in helping meet the needs of a growing world population. The DEKALB Agricultural Accomplishment Award is a distinction of honor, worthy only of the agricultural industry’s brightest and most promising young talent.

One such individual is Ms. Emily Horn, a 2006 DEKALB Agricultural Accomplishment Award winner and graduate of North Montgomery High School in Crawfordsville, Ind. Horn, a Waynetown, Ind., native, was an active member of her high school FFA chapter, serving as a chapter officer for three years and as the District 4 FFA president for one year.

Growing up on her family’s grain and livestock farm, Horn developed an early love for the agricultural industry.

“I’ve always had an interest in growing things,” she says. “Today, I keep that love alive with my passion for horticulture.”

Horn discovered her interest in horticulture through her high school FFA program and work in the school greenhouse.

“My high school ag classes are what got me interested in this business,” she says. “It helped lead me to my future career which is owning my own retail greenhouse in my hometown.”

Upon graduating from Purdue University in 2010 with a bachelor’s in horticulture production and marketing, Horn moved home to Waynetown and opened her dream business, The Clay Pot Garden Shop, along with her husband, Clayton Horn. Horn’s shop specializes in annuals, perennials and vegetables, including mums and pumpkins in the fall. She also offers garden décor and decorative containers as part of her gardening and landscaping services.

Owning a business at such a young age is no easy feat, but with a passionate and determined Emily Horn in the driving seat, The Clay Pot is looking forward to another successful garden season in 2012.

“I love making customers happy and helping them find the perfect plants they are looking for,” she says. “It’s a great feeling knowing I can provide a customer complete satisfaction with their purchase and help them learn a little more about their plants along the way.”

Horn’s business can be found online at www.theclaypotgardenshop.com.

Emily Horn is just one example of the impact past DEKALB Ag Accomplishment Award winners are making on the agricultural industry. Just as DEKALB has stood for performance, innovation and service to the American farmer for the past 100 years, former DEKALB award recipients are exemplifying those same qualities in their chosen professions and upholding the legacy of a brand that’s 100 years strong.

“It was an honor to be selected as a DEKALB Ag Accomplishment award in 2006,” she says. “It showed me that my hard work and actions were noticed, which helped give me the confidence and the tools to go out in the real world and do what I do now.”

Stories From the Field

Evan T. Sanderson Family

On January 20, 1912, the foundation was laid for one of America’s leading brands in agriculture – DEKALB®. In the hands and hopes of farmers, just like the ones that the DEKALB brand still serves today, the mission for DEKALB was born by a group of 11 individuals who wanted to explore not only what corn was, but also what it could be. They were a group that refused to settle for the status quo and pushed the limits on corn production of the time to raise the bar on corn yields. That mission has become our brand, and, for the last 100 years, DEKALB corn has been planted by generations of farm families across the country.

That spirit of innovation and discovery has been characteristic of DEKALB growers over the years, just like with Evan T. Sanderson of Carroll County, Indiana. Mr. Sanderson was the 1941 winner in the DEKALB national corn yield contest, beating 14,000 other competitors and taking top honors with a then-impressive 173.03 bushel-per-acre yield using the DEKALB 607A hybrid. Because of that distinction, DEKALB awarded Sanderson a large trophy and a brand new set of silver at a convention in Chicago, representing one of the highpoints in his lifelong farming career. He, along with his young son, Mitch, was featured on the cover of a 1941 “Acres of Gold” sales brochure, working side by side in the corn fields on the Sanderson Family Farm.

That picture has been proudly displayed on the wall of the Sanderson home for years and now serves as a tribute to the 6’ 5” patriarch of the Sanderson family, who instilled a passion for agriculture and hard work in his children and grandchildren. As fate would have it, DEKALB was reconnected with legacy of Sanderson when his granddaughter and her husband, Jeralyn and David Faris, noticed their beloved grandfather and uncle featured in the DEKALB 100th Anniversary ad that appeared in the November 2011 issue of Successful Farming magazine.

According to Faris and her mother, Lois Long, who is Evan Sanderson’s daughter, their family was thrilled to receive such an award in 1941. Sanderson, a hard-working farmer who was always looking to be at his best, was also a loyal DEKALB customer, and DEKALB hybrids remained a mainstay of the Sanderson operation for generations.

The DEKALB brand is proud to be 100 years strong – and even prouder to have a long line of customers like Evan T. Sanderson who are committed to making the best better.