ASK THE AGRONOMIST BLOG

Our brand promise, STINE^® HAS YIELD, isn’t just a slogan. It’s our commitment to develop, offer and place the highest-yielding products on growers’ operations. Our access to the industry’s leading soybean breeding programs, innovative corn research and agility to make timely decisions allow us to test more unique material and bring higher-yielding products to growers faster. Our advantage lies in the scope and quality of our research, thorough product selection and testing process, and data-backed performance from our Stine Elite Yield Trials.

Most seed companies conduct seed trials, but it’s the sheer scale of our research and testing programs, coupled with the best genetics from the corn and soybean breeding programs we use, that set Stine apart.

“Breeding is a numbers game,” says Warren Stine, assistant director of corn research. “You must have high volume to increase your chances of finding good things. We not only have the most data, especially on the soybean side, but we also have the highest-quality data of any testing out there.”

From humble beginnings

In the 1960s Harry Stine began “yield checking” soybean lines — work previously only done by universities — which eventually inspired Stine’s Elite Trials program. Harry recognized what a large-scale, efficient testing program could bring to the soybean industry back then. Because of his intuition and fearless leadership in innovation, Stine now operates the largest soybean research and testing system in the world.

“Nobody has as many entries in soybean testing as we do,” notes Warren Stine. 

On the corn side, we first started our breeding program in 1978 and eventually began testing hybrids in the Elite Yield Trials in the early ’80s. Stine’s corn elite testing program continues to grow each year, with the goal of having the largest corn research and breeding program in the industry.

“At this point in time, we are about as big as any of the big players,” says Warren Stine. “Our goal is to surpass the big players in corn breeding and research in the future, and that’s more attainable for us than others as a privately owned company.” 

The inner workings of Elite Yield Trials

Stine’s Elite Yield Trials are the third year of the multiyear testing undergone by corn and soybean products being considered for commercialization. Brian Hartman, Stine’s national corn product manager, describes the Elite Yield Trials as our internal research and testing program to advance products.

“For corn, we test four different maturity ranges — early, early-mid, full-season and late. We test different corn products in various populations and research standability, yield and emergence. We also look at plant architecture and compare our newest material to proven material in the marketplace,” Hartman adds.

For soybeans, our primary focus is yield, but we also concentrate on traits, maturity and stress tolerance.   

The first couple years of testing are our Pre-Elite Trials. Only 5% of products evaluated in our Pre-Elite Trials move on to our Elite Yield Trials. At each step, as we narrow the number of products we are evaluating, we are increasing the number of repetitions and the number of locations tested for each. From there, less than 2% of those evaluated in Elite Yield Trials are ever commercialized.

Only the best of the best in our Elite Yield Trials advance to market. The rest essentially gets discarded.

“The process is tedious, but it's why it's the best," says Hartman. "We take an in-depth look at how these products perform against different variables over a wide geography and average results from those areas. We’re testing for broad adaptability — not everyone does that. This helps us sell our products with confidence.”

It’s not what Stine does but rather how we do it that separates us from the rest of the industry.

"Uniformity is key in our corn and soybean Elite Trials," says Jason Behn, head of corn research for Stine. "We make sure every variable is aligned, including fertilizer and herbicide applications, the soil types the products are placed in, and planting space and population. We want all products to have an equal playing field throughout the process, including the competitor products we test our material against."

Another advantage that's truly unique to our program is we're the only seed company actively testing in narrow rows for both corn and soybeans.

"We stand behind our belief that narrow rows are the way of the future and the best way to get more plants per acre for more yield across the board," says Warren Stine.

Over the past few years, our soybean Elite Yield Trials have grown tremendously — an increase of 15% year-over-year. We're also seeing growth in our corn Elite Yield Trials, which have doubled from last year. This means it's all hands on deck to ensure the process for each plot runs smoothly.

“The number of people involved in overseeing this process — from our nursery workers and our South American team to our techs and planting and harvesting crews — is massive,” says Warren Stine. “This is the start of a watershed year for us. We’ve never had a program this big. It’s going to impact how we go forward in ways we haven’t seen yet.”

The value to growers

Stine’s Elite Yield Trials are an integral part of delivering on the STINE HAS YIELD promise. It’s our commitment to yield, the scope and quality of our research, our meticulous selection and testing process and our investment in continuous research that deliver value to our grower customers.

“We don’t want failures out there,” says Hartman. “We want to advance the products we know we can trust in growers’ fields, and we want to place them in environments where we know they will perform because we have the data to back it up. That’s the endgame.” 

When it comes to research, yield is what matters most. But how we get there is also important.

“We have more product repetitions in our Elite Yield Trials than in our Pre-Elite Trials,” says Behn. “This means we plant more seed, conduct more research and review more data points, which ultimately ensures we’re looking at how that product performs against several different environmental and agronomic variables. We want a real-world look at how these products perform when they hit the field.”

We can say with a high degree of certainty how our products perform in certain situations and field environments. The more we grow our program, the better our data will be, which will equate to more confidence in our products and placement guidance.

“On the sales side, the value of Stine Elite Yield Trials is in the sheer amount and quality of data,” says Dustin Ellis, Stine regional sales agronomist. “Each year, the production team provides our sales reps with yield maturity graphs that include data points from the hundreds of thousands of plots they place each year. We use these graphs to show growers the trend lines of product performance, including those of our competitors. It’s truly unbiased research they can trust and is what growers want and need to help them make more informed decisions.”

Stay tuned for next week’s edition of Stine Weekly as we dive deeper into Stine’s corn Elite Yield Trials. In the meantime, be sure to contact your local rep on our Find Stine page for information on our products and agronomic services.

Stine^® Seed Company is excited to kick off its 2024 internship program. This year, five students from across the country have been hired to support our regional sales agronomists throughout the busy summer months. 

“Stine’s summer interns will serve as designated ambassadors of our brand and help us in our mission to deliver yield to growers across our sales regions,” says Todd Schomburg, Stine’s director of recruitment. “We have a great group of students this year who are eager to dive in and get to work.”

Stine’s 2024 class of summer interns includes: 

Dexter Wesson, Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Illinois. Dexter will assist Stine Regions 11, 12, and 13 (Illinois).

Claira Shimota, South Central College in North Mankato, Minnesota. Claira will assist Stine Regions 1 and 2 (Minnesota).

John Moellers, Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar, Iowa. John will assist Stine Region 10 (Iowa).

Cooper Johnson, North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, North Dakota. Cooper will assist Stine Region 21 (North Dakota).

Luke Nesler, Murray State University in Murray Kentucky. Luke will assist Stine Region 18 (Kentucky).

What does a Stine summer internship entail?

The interns will work directly with our regional sales agronomists to assist in day-to-day agronomic and sales activities. Specific job duties include seed delivery and returns, visits to targeted grower customers to share company information, job shadowing sales reps and agronomists during field visits, and more. Interns will also help plan and execute Stine success plots and spend time in the plots conducting research, such as stand counts and emergence testing, insect and disease identification, ear counts, and yield estimates. They will also be tasked with providing weekly reports on their activities and progress to their regionals sales agronomists.

“Our hope is these students use this time with our experts to ask questions, gain insights into the world of sales and agronomy, and actively engage with all aspects of their internship experience,” says Schomburg. “This is an excellent opportunity for professional growth and learning from some of the most knowledgeable professionals in the industry.”

All summer interns will receive compensation, and some students will be eligible to receive college credits toward their degree.

The future of the program

While our class of 2024 summer interns are already in place for the upcoming growing season, we look forward to continuing our internship program in 2025 and beyond.

If you or someone you know is interested in our 2025 summer internship program, please keep an eye on our Careers Page for future announcements. Ideal internship candidates are passionate about the ag industry, self-motivated, and either enrolled in a four-year university or two-year community college or will be approaching their final year of study. Preference is given to students pursuing a degree in ag business, ag management, agronomy or other related ag education fields.

“Students who choose a Stine internship will have their foot in the door at one of the most respected seed companies in the country, and if they prove themselves, they may even have a job offer before they finish school,” says Schomburg.

For questions related to the internship program, please reach out to Todd Schomburg at taschomburg@stineseed.com. 

At Stine^®, our goal is to recruit the best in the industry. We seek employees and sales team members who are hardworking, knowledgeable and dedicated to putting our grower customers first. We are in the business of solving problems and providing solutions; it’s the value we offer. We hire talented and experienced individuals such as Stine regional sales agronomist (RSA) Lucas Krueger.

Krueger has a passion for agriculture and zest for life. He grew up on a corn and soybean farm in North Dakota, which steered him to pursue his plant science degree at North Dakota State University. Between his freshman and sophomore year, however, his path took an unexpected turn when a “magical” opportunity changed his outlook on life and his career.

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

According to Krueger, roughly 400 to 500 applicants applied for the ag science internship at Walt Disney World^® in Orlando, Florida, and only 15 were selected to help manage the on-site greenhouses for the 2015 spring semester. After months of intensive interviews, Krueger was selected for a once-in-a-lifetime position.  

“To think there were hundreds of students who wanted this, and I was one of the 15 selected, it’s mind boggling,” says Krueger. “Throughout the process, they vet you, talk to your references, and make sure you’re willing to move to Florida and be away from home. It took about three to five months but was well worth it.”

Krueger began his internship in January 2015 in an area Disney calls “The Land,” which is part of EPCOT’s “Living with the Land” attraction. At the time, it consisted of four public greenhouses that guests were able to view and two more “backstage,” where the interns grew and researched plants before they were put on display.  

A typical workday for Krueger included a Tuesday through Saturday shift from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Interns were allowed free access to the Disney parks, so when he wasn’t working, he was off enjoying the sites and rides.

Krueger would work with approximately 150 different types of plants from across the world daily, including palm trees, dragon fruit, date palms and even Mickey-shaped pumpkins.  

“We learned how to grow everything without soil,” Krueger says. “It was all about nutrients, water, space and everything plants need to grow. It focused on hydroponics.”

Krueger notes that plants were often grown on strings or in PVC pipes. In one greenhouse, Krueger remembers a tomato plant that grew up like a tree as it was strung to the ceiling. Lettuce was grown on rotating PVC pipes that spun to provide nutrients to the crop during the rotation process.

One of the most unique plants Krueger worked with was, strangely enough, amaranth.

“Amaranth in the field is a weed, but at Disney, we grew it as a crop. Everything we grew had edible components, even the lily pads,” says Krueger.

Many of the plants grown in the greenhouses would be used for the restaurants on-site at Disney, others for park displays and some were even shipped to feed the animals at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Practicing conservation and advocacy

As an ag science intern, Krueger’s team was tasked with creating a zero-waste environment. Using the plants and produce to feed the animals at Animal Kingdom was a great way to ensure nothing produced in the greenhouse was discarded.

“I remember one day, our Zero Waste Project got its zero-waste certification, which was a huge deal at the company. We were some of the people who made it happen,” Krueger notes.

He adds that everything planted was propagated. Even the corn would start its growth process in the greenhouse before being transplanted into sand for either park display or consumption. 

“The biggest thing I’ve been able to bring with me to my roles outside of Disney is the idea of conservation,” says Krueger. “The importance of conservation continues to be brought up and is something we need to focus on. If it wasn’t for this internship, I wouldn’t have realized its importance.”

Krueger was also tasked with giving tours to visitors from around the world — an effort he says was an eye-opening experience for him.

“I gave three to four tours a day for six months to share what we did in the greenhouses,” adds Krueger. “What surprised me was how little people knew about where their food came from and the misinformation surrounding genetic modification and engineering. I enjoyed teaching them the true value of agriculture and how it all comes together. It proved how much of an ‘agvocate’ I could be.”

Bringing his talent to Stine

Following his internship, Krueger had a whole new outlook on life. He knew he wanted a career in agriculture but was much more open to traveling and seeing the rest of the country. He spent his first few years in the southeastern United States, traveling and living in the Carolinas and Tennessee. While it was a great experience, he was still connected to his fellow interns from Disney, and a few were studying at Iowa State University at the time. The lifelong friendships he grew in Orlando encouraged him to follow his friends to Ames, Iowa, where he finished his degree in agricultural science.

“My internship at Disney really led me on a path across the world,” says Krueger. “After I completed my degree, I did an internship with Bayer in 2019 in Hawaii. I wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t for Disney. The opportunity forced me to grow up and work for myself rather than go back to the farm.”

His next gig landed him in his now-permanent home of Indiana, where he met his wife, Laney. He was also introduced to Stine eastern division director of sales Ben Grinnell and general manager of sales Clint Bounds. After a few conversations, Grinnell and Bounds convinced Krueger to join the Stine team.

As an RSA for Stine, Krueger supports his team of independent sales representatives (ISRs) in any way possible. He provides them with the resources they need for their day-to-day operations, helps them grow their business and make their grower customers’ operations more profitable.

“My team and our customers are some of the most loyal folks I’ve ever met,” says Krueger. “It’s a very hands-on region; we’re one big family. I didn’t expect to have that when I started here. It’s a breath of fresh air. They are what makes Indiana Stine work.”

Giving back

If you’ve ever had a conversation with Krueger, you likely know he has an outgoing personality through and through.

“I’m a big people person,” says Krueger. “If I can’t find and build a connection where I’m at, then I struggle. I’m very fortunate and blessed to have both my Disney family and Stine family play such an important role in my life.”

Krueger is not only dedicated to uplifting his team and improving growers’ operations, but he’s also committed to his community. He currently resides in Noblesville, Indiana, where he coaches little league baseball, is a volunteer firefighter and donates to the American Red Cross. He even met his wife through volunteer firefighting when her dad was the chief.

As for visiting his old stomping grounds in Orlando, he tries to get back to Disney a few times a year, but it’s the lasting friendships and hands-on agronomic experience he gained while there that have truly enrichened his life.

“I love everything I’ve done,” says Krueger. “We’re all given a certain number of days on this Earth. To say I’ve been able to work at companies like Disney and Stine, it’s incredible.”

If you have a son or daughter interested in Disney’s ag science internship, Krueger says he’s happy to talk to them to share his experience. You can contact him here. To speak to one of our other knowledgeable RSAs or ISRs to help set you up for success in 2024 and beyond, find your local rep on our Find Stine page.