When driving down the road, you're likely to see corn fields everywhere.  A farmer doesn’t go to Wal-Mart to pick up his seed. Someone has to grow it the year before so that he can plant it and grow corn the next year. Hartung Brothers Inc. does just that. They grow seed corn for Syngenta. A company recognized around the world for their quality of seeds.

 

John McCarthy, a Hartung Brother and field representative from the Janesville section, explained how growing seed corn is a long process. It has a specific way to plant the seeds, then multiple steps including counting, detassleing, and many before harvesting in September. He says TIMING is EVERYTHING when growing seed corn, which makes it a very labor intensive job during pollination and detassleing.   McCarthy also said it takes special equipment…everything from special planters and a detassler to special sweet corn pickers for harvest.

 

Hartung Brothers Inc. has fields all over-- from Wisconsin to Texas. McCarthy says that today they grow seed corn, peas, potatoes, and many others.   But when they started in the late 1970’s, they were actually doing custom farm work.

 

For more information about Hartung Brothers Inc., what crops they grow, or how to grow them be sure to check out their website at www.hartungbrothers.com .