Made in Indiana: Pioneer seeds by Corteva Agriscience

The product: Pioneer seeds are a nearly century-old brand of seeds for corn, soybeans and wheat. Corteva Agriscience produces them in four locations in Indiana—Plymouth, Rushville, Worthington and Tipton—and in numerous other sites outside the state.

History: The company was founded in 1926 as the Hi-Bred Corn Co. in Des Moines, Iowa, by Henry A. Wallace, a farmer and businessman who later became U.S. secretary of agriculture and vice president under Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Wallace was an early experimenter with hybrid corn and felt that engineered crops would provide resistance to pests and weeds and would produce higher yields. In 1935, Pioneer was added to the company name to distinguish it from other hybrid corn companies. Pioneer became the seed-corn market leader in 1981 and the soybean-seed leader in 1991.

The Indiana connection: Pioneer has been operating in Tipton since 1939, Rushville since 1967, Worthington since 1975 and Plymouth since 1989. Together, the four locations manage all aspects of seed production, packaging and shipping of a wide array of brand lines, including Pioneer, AgVenture, Brevant, Dairyland, Hoegemeyer and NuTech.

Ownership change: Chemical conglomerate DuPont, based in Wilmington, Delaware, became 100% owner in 1999. But that was just the beginning of a historic corporate restructuring. DuPont later merged with Dow Chemical, and the combined companies spun off the agricultural division, including Pioneer, to Indianapolis-based Corteva in 2018, which has owned the brand since then.

Ag science: The company says its leading Pioneer products are protected by traits and technologies to maximize the genetic and yield potential.

Employees: More than 300 full-time employees work across the four locations. The plants employ seasonal workers, as well.

Sales: Corteva rang up net sales of $9.5 billion for seeds worldwide in 2023 but did not break out Indiana sales.

Customers: Corteva says it sells not to large agricultural companies but mostly to individual farmers. “If they’re not a customer today, we’re striving to make them a customer tomorrow,” said Ryan White, Corteva’s regional production director.

—Compiled by John Russell