Corteva Hosts Multiple-Time Winner of the National Corn Growers Association National Yield Contest

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For Tour of O‘ahu & Kaua‘i Locations

Hawai`i Event Participants and Adventures

Virginia farmer David Hula visited with the team at the Hawai‘i Research Center on Kaua‘i.

While known as a vacation destination, Hawai‘i is also rich in agriculture and Corteva has capitalized on that with a Parent Seed location on O‘ahu and a Research location on Kaua‘i. Many of our employees and customers stop in for a tour while they are vacationing in our beautiful state.

In early February 2024, Virginia farmer David Hula visited the islands with his wife, Sandy, and another farmer, Keith Jones and wife, Christine. David is a multiple-time winner of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) National Yield Contest and set a new world record of 623.84 bu/A in 2023. David and Keith toured Waialua Parent Seed on O‘ahu with site lead Alika Napier. Alika also took them to view other Hawai‘i agricultural operations at Dole Plantation and Kō Hana Rum. Throughout the tours, David and Keith learned some of the advantages and challenges of agriculture in Hawai‘i.

The group then flew to Kaua‘i to tour the Hawai‘i Research Center, including our seed handling operations, genotyping lab, tissue culture lab and the double haploid shade houses. The timing was perfect as Corteva R&D leaders Geoff Graham, Tom Sauber and Amy Blahnik were in Hawai‘i visiting the research locations that week and we were able to have a nice lunch that resulted in a productive information exchange. One of the great things that came out of the discussion was knowing that, as a farmer, David appreciates the team support and relationships he has with Corteva. He is a loyal Pioneer customer and was happy to meet some of the people involved in developing one of the parents of the hybrid he set the new corn yield record with. We were able to share its development back to Hawai‘i starting in 2012. Mahalo, David and Keith, for visiting and touring our farms!

David Hula also visited with the team at the Parent Seed location on O‘ahu.

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