Syngenta Thrive

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What happens when a sixth-generation farmer combines his family’s legacy with personal drive and a video game hobby?

For Andy Dole, that combination birthed aTrippyFarmer, his YouTube channel where he now has more than 40,000 subscribers. Dole shares his everyday life raising a few thousand acres of corn and soybeans on his family farm in southwest Illinois near Mattoon.

“Our farm was founded in 1847 and passed down to my dad and his brothers,” Dole says. “My mom’s father is in his 80s and continues farming nearby. I am tremendously proud of that legacy.”

Dole graduated from the University of Illinois in 2017 with a degree in crop science. After graduation, his father, Marty, and his uncles, Chris and Jeff, extended him an offer to join the farm full time. His sister Katie is also involved in the operation, and she and her husband are raising their three children on the farm.

“Returning to the farm was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” Dole says. “I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to work with family and maintain the farm for the next generation.”

Dole and his wife, Ali, moved into the house that belonged to his paternal grandparents during the summer of 2023, allowing them to raise their sons, Lennon and Graham, on the farm.

Getting a Personal Gig

As the newest member of the farm, Dole was excited to contribute. He hoped to grow the farm’s acreage, but it’s rare to find an expansion opportunity in his area. So, he sought other ways to grow the family business.

“I enjoy the process of tweaking aspects of farm management and seeing how small adjustments impact the operation,” he says. “But it is frustrating that we only get one shot every year to try something, and the outcome depends heavily on the weather. I wanted to own something I could more fully control.”

He describes his personal hobbies as nontraditional for a farmer, yet they represent his generation. He enjoys playing video games and watching YouTube channels on topics like fitness and gaming.

“I hadn’t watched farm-focused YouTubers, and I would be the last person I would pick to do a YouTube channel,” Dole says. “But when I recognized my desire to do my own thing within the farm, I thought, ‘Why not me?’”

Like any farmer considering a new practice, he did his research and taught himself key skills. In this case, he learned to capture video on his phone, edit it and promote his work. He studied how other YouTubers named their channels, and then decided to take his own path.

“My gaming buddies noticed that I often said ‘trippy,’ and eventually my gamer tag became aTrippyFarmer,” he explains. “When it was time to name my YouTube channel, I went with who I have been for years.”

Dole launched his first YouTube video in February 2020. When COVID-19 shut the world down the following month, he had already established his channel. With a knack for capturing the search algorithm and a little bit of luck, he was able to capture between 10,000 and 15,000 views with one of his early videos.

“Since then, I have failed my way forward,” he says. “And, I have kept the commitment I made to my dad: Whatever I do, I will not slow us down.”

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My goal is to maintain a consistent schedule of posting videos that generate conversations. My ability to share my perspective and talk farming with commenters reminds me to be grateful for what I do.

Andy “aTrippyFarmer” Dole Sixth-generation Farmer and Influencer

Highlighting Challenges and Solutions

Managing his YouTube channel parallels farming. Dole is focused on growing a solid crop each year with continuous improvement, and he approaches his videos with the same tenacity. He welcomes help from his family, especially his wife, who has become a video editor for the channel. Dole is proud of his ability to organically grow his audience over time.

His videos speak to farmers and anyone interested in the dynamics of Midwest row crop production. Yet, Dole noticed the general public is also watching his channel, and he’s developed a deep appreciation for the curiosity of people outside the farming community.

During the 2023 growing season, he covered a variety of topics about the good and the bad of farming:

  • He explained why his family invested in a ground rig to spray products themselves for the first time in a decade.
  • He discussed how sudden death syndrome cut soybean yield in the past, leading them to treat all their soybeans with Saltro® seed treatment this season.
  • He described how they controlled problem weeds like waterhemp with the Acuron® line of herbicides in corn.
  • Throughout the season, he tracked the crops’ need for moisture and how that impacted decisions like applying Miravis® Neo fungicide on both corn and soybeans.

Becoming aTrippyFarmer has also helped Dole stay grounded in his own work. He shares his point of view without comparing his family’s operation to other farms or imposing his will on fellow farmers.

“My goal is to maintain a consistent schedule of posting videos that generate conversations,” he says. “My ability to share my perspective and talk farming with commenters reminds me to be grateful for what I do.”

To hear more from Dole about his platform, his thoughts on the 2025 season and his relationship with Syngenta, watch this video.

 

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Farmers are a keystone in a sustainable agricultural ecosystem. Their financial health must be protected as they adapt farming systems to regenerate and steward natural resources. Crop protection technologies provide a sturdy base for their ongoing work to advance sustainable farming, without sacrificing their financial well-being.

“We’re on the cusp of a new era in agriculture,” says Val Dolcini, Syngenta head of business sustainability and government affairs.

Energy production, transportation and agricultural production are the top carbon-emitting industries. Each has economic and environmental incentives to reduce its carbon footprint. Agriculture is uniquely positioned to tackle the problem from two sides. Transitioning from conventional practices to a regenerative farming system can result in less carbon being emitted and more carbon being pulled from the atmosphere and banked in the soil.

Consumers Want Change

Consumers are increasingly considering their own carbon footprint and those of the companies they do business with. Every day, most people worldwide use the goods produced from the energy, transportation and agriculture industries. Examining the impact of food on the carbon footprint is low-hanging fruit for carbon-conscious consumers.

Shifting from driving a car to taking public transportation or installing home solar panels are decisions and actions that take substantial time and effort to achieve. On the other hand, buying food that is produced using sustainable, carbon-fixing farming practices provides consumers with instant satisfaction that they’re doing their part.

Food companies recognize the growing demand and have begun sourcing more regeneratively produced agricultural products — even paying premiums for verified practices. According to Dolcini, this provides bonus financial motivation for producers to continue adopting and advancing sustainable production practices. The diverse and powerful crop protection tools available to the modern producer play a significant part in making those moves possible.

Adopting a Sustainable Standard

Cover crops, no-till, strip-till and other minimum-tillage systems are typically the first sustainable practices farmers adopt. According to the Sustainable Outcomes in Agriculture Standard (SOA), each of these systems contribute to soil health, water quality, greenhouse gas reduction and improvement of biodiversity and habitat. Syngenta developed the Standard to help growers assess and advance the regenerative farming practices they use and is available via the Cropwise Sustainability App in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

“Implementing these practices without herbicides that offer excellent broad-spectrum control at the soil and foliar level would be very difficult,” says Mark White, Syngenta herbicide regulatory team lead.

When tillage is reduced or eliminated altogether, herbicides are needed more than ever to control weeds and protect yields. Herbicides are a valuable partner when using cover crops, too. Cover crops help build aggregate soil structure — among other significant agronomic benefits — which can help adapt soils more quickly to no-till systems and potentially reduce transition yield losses. If a grower can’t effectively terminate a cover crop, though, it can quickly become a detriment to the cash crop and farm profits/

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Farmers have always been stewards of the land. They’ve laid a great foundation to meet the sustainability priorities we see today, and Syngenta is well positioned to help through our products, technologies, research, initiatives and programs.

Val Dolcini Head of Business Sustainability and Government Affairs, Syngenta

Power of Herbicides

There are many effective and diverse herbicides in the Syngenta portfolio to assist farmers no matter their chosen farming system. Atrazine, however, has long endured as one of the most valuable, effective and affordable tools used in reduced-tillage systems. It’s provided more than 60 years of reliable pre- and post-emergence control of a broad spectrum of broadleaf and grassy weeds. Atrazine is a flexible product that can be used in almost any cropping tillage system, which is why, according to White, it has had such a significant impact in the regenerative farming movement.

Studies have shown the use of atrazine helped drive the rate of adoption of conservation tillage practices in field corn, sweet corn, sugar cane and sorghum. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the herbicide is used on more than half the planted acres of each crop in the U.S.

“The flexibility and effectiveness of atrazine set it apart,” White says. “It’s one of our oldest legacy products and is still one of the most used herbicides in the United States and around the world.”

Despite decades of consistent use, very little atrazine weed resistance has developed as compared to other herbicides. Herbicide-resistant weeds pose a significant threat to no-till systems. When herbicides don’t work, tillage may be the easy way out. It will kill the weeds, but it also significantly sets back years of soil building work.

More diverse crop rotations and using atrazine can help avoid resistant weed problems and keep tillage equipment parked. Another mark in the good news category is that atrazine is not only effective, but also affordable. It would cost $30-$50 per acre to replace atrazine with the combination of herbicides needed to do the same job, according to White.

Reduce, Reuse, Regenerate

Regenerative farming practices have built momentum in recent decades. Unlike early adopters of these practices, today’s farmers have access to experienced peers, research and improving technology. They also have a better understanding of how regenerative farming builds soil in a way that protects the environment and helps buffer against weather extremes.

Reducing tillage and keeping a living root in the soil as much as possible with cover crops and strategic crop rotations transform soils, greatly improving function. Healthy soils are high in organic matter — made up of carbon pulled from the atmosphere — and rife with pore space held open by soil aggregates.

High-functioning soils with high organic matter store more water and take it in quickly. According to the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, every 1% increase in organic matter will help soils hold up to 20,000 gallons more water per acre. Also, no-till management can increase the speed at which water enters the soil profile, with cover crops having the potential to dramatically increase infiltration rates.

Soils with high water infiltration rates and high water-holding capacity reduce runoff, minimizing erosion and protecting water quality. According to Ohio State University Extension, sediment is the top agricultural pollutant. Runoff from no-till and cover-crop-protected fields is most often clear and clean. High water infiltration rates and high water-holding capacities also allow farmers to take full advantage of intense — and too often sparse — rainfall.

Past crop and cover crop residue shield the soil from the sun, protecting the collected water from evaporation. Together, these factors make more moisture available to growing crops for longer, allowing them to better withstand periods of drought.

Macro and microorganisms thrive within organic matter and living roots. They cycle nutrients from cover crops and crop residue to be used by the current crop. An active soil and the use of cover crops with nitrogen-fixing legumes can reduce application rates of synthetic fertilizers. The benefits to environment and farmer alike go on and on.

Sustainable Agricultural Technology

“Sustainability is a big circle,” White says. No-till and cover crops sequester carbon, prevent erosion and provide many other benefits. Getting economic yields in these systems is contingent on good agronomic practices, including weed control. Access to cost-effective herbicides for controlling weeds and terminating cover crops increases profit margins ― and profitable farmers remain in business and continue to use and advance sustainable farming practices.

“Farmers have always been stewards of the land,” Dolcini says. “They’ve laid a great foundation to meet the sustainability priorities we see today, and Syngenta is well positioned to help through our products, technologies, research, initiatives and programs.”

Syngenta has a goal of delivering two sustainable agricultural technology breakthroughs per year through 2025. A roughly $2 billion investment will help achieve those goals. In addition, Syngenta is committed to enhancing biodiversity and soil health on more than 7 million acres worldwide by providing technologies, services and training to farmers.

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The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) inspires growers to aim for higher corn yields with the National Corn Yield Contest (NCYC), its longest-running program. The NCYC motivates growers to advance their skills with each growing season by earning the highest yield of one continuous hybrid on a 10-acre plot.

The contest rewards the skill and know-how of growers, but the takeaway is greater than trophies and recognition. “Because of the contest, farmers learn from themselves and each other,” says Linda Lambur, manager of the NCYC. “They try new practices, techniques, equipment and products while learning from and teaching each other.”

In this way, the NCYC provides valuable lessons to every participant while encouraging innovative collaboration through competition. “It is a contest, and a love of competition is a part of the farmer’s spirit,” says Lambur. “They’re all helping each other because everybody’s in it for a reason: to learn, to help, to grow.”

The NCGA introduced the contest to boost engagement among the state corn grower associations. In its first year, only 20 growers from four states entered the contest. Now, thousands of growers from across the country participate, with entries from nearly every state in the U.S.

Participation in the contest is a source of pride, and winners are recognized as industry leaders with successful corn yield plans — including seed selection and crop protection programs. “Yield contest winners are great role models because other farmers look to them for innovative ways to break through their own yield ceilings,” says Shawn Hock, corn herbicide product marketing lead for Syngenta.

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A love of competition is a part of the farmer’s spirit. They’re all helping each other because everybody’s in it for a reason: to learn, to help, to grow.

Linda Lambur NCGA President

Find More Corn Bushels

Top corn producers manage factors like planting date, plant density, plant nutrition, genetics and pest management. Choosing the highest quality crop protection solutions can push growers to increase yield.

“To raise the highest yields possible, variables that can be controlled should be closely managed,” says Hock. “Acuron® really sets itself apart from other herbicides because of its unique combination for superior crop safety and broad-spectrum, long-lasting residual control. That’s what gives Acuron users the edge when raising high yields.”1

The combination of industry-leading inputs and excellent agronomic practices allows contest winners to achieve yields that once seemed impossible. “In 2022, the national corn yield was about 173 bushels per acre,” says Hock. “The average national contest winner in 2022 was over 340 bushels per acre.”

Syngenta supports the NCGA’s efforts to drive corn growers to push the boundaries of possible yields. Acuron helps growers accomplish that by providing greater consistency, enhanced weed control, built-in burndown and long-lasting residual. “It’s unique in the marketplace because of its combination of proven crop safety and residual weed control,” says Hock. “When you put those two things together, that unlocks more yield potential.”

In addition to higher yields, growers who register for the Find More Bushels program benefit from perks throughout the season, including a welcome gift and, for NCGA members entering the contest, a chance to win a trip to Commodity Classic, where winners will be honored at the NCGA reception.

Look Ahead to 2024

Reliable products and collaboration can help growers achieve the highest yields possible. The 2023 NCYC winners, who will be announced in December, are a testament to that. “We are looking forward to celebrating growers that are continuing to advance new management practices to continue raising the yield bar,” says Hock.

Next year marks the 60th anniversary of the NCYC. Participants can enter the contest in May 2024 by visiting https://ncga.com/ and preparing their entries with their NCGA membership numbers. New members can reach out to the NCGA directly. Growers planning to find more bushels with Acuron can register online for the program in the spring of 2024.

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Many factors motivate farmers to achieve higher yields. Some growers want to fulfill their family’s legacy, while others aspire to stay profitable and reap the benefits of their hard work. But sometimes, good old-fashioned friendly competition is the incentive farmers need to produce higher-yielding soybeans.

Each year, the North Carolina Soybean Yield Contest gives participating growers the drive to earn top-producer bragging rights. It also provides fascinating data that can enable all soybean growers to boost their crops’ productivity.

Rachel Vann, Ph.D., assistant professor and soybean Extension specialist in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at North Carolina State University (NCSU), is one of the researchers gathering essential intel on soybean yield and a contest administrator. “Since we collect so much management information through the contest, we are able to identify trends that will benefit all growers,” she says.

Joining Vann as a longtime contest administrator is Jim Dunphy, Ph.D., retired Extension soybean expert and professor emeritus of soybean production & management at NCSU. This annual endeavor is a group effort with North Carolina Cooperative Extension Agents measuring yield contest entries at the local level and the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association (NCSPA) providing prizes for the winners.

Any grower in North Carolina with three or more contiguous acres of soybeans is eligible to enter the contest. There are several prize categories, and cash winnings range from $100 for a regional yield award to $1,000 for the top state champion.

When entering the contest, growers are asked to provide their production practices associated with the entered acres, which is the data Vann and her team use to help determine what best practices provide the highest yields.

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The idea of using producer-derived data to leverage something already going on provides a broader educational value. Almost as valuable as seeing what works is understanding what doesn’t when it comes to strongly predicting high yield. By focusing on the most important variables, we can take a deeper dive into what truly impacts yields.

Rachel Vann, Ph.D. Assistant Professor and Soybean Extension Specialist at North Carolina State University

High Yield Predictors

Maximizing the value of contest data is an ongoing goal for Vann. “When I came to this position five years ago, we had a large database of information for reference,” she says. “But there had not been any effort to dive into that database to get what educational value could be gleaned for the broader grower base.”

Vann and her colleague, Katherine Drake-Stowe, now the director of the U.S. Soybean Research Collaborative, decided to undertake this challenge by reviewing 18 years of yield contest data from 877 entries.

“We wanted to identify those production practices that were strong and consistent predictors of high yield in North Carolina soybeans,” Vann says. “We looked at 12 to 15 management practices and conducted a statistical analysis to determine which practices had the strongest impact on yield.”

The most impactful practices noted in her team’s report are as follows:

  • Maturity group. The contest data shows that planting an earlier-maturing variety (<MG5), especially in high-yielding environments, increases soybean yields. However, Vann advises against taking a blanket approach when selecting maturity groups because of North Carolina’s rotational complexity, soil type variability and inconsistent annual weather patterns, which oftentimes necessitate growers selecting a wide range of maturity groups. Nonetheless, using earlier maturing varieties optimizes yield in situations with optimal production capacity and limited stress.
  • Foliar fungicides. The data clearly shows that the use of foliar fungicides can increase soybean yields because they reduce yield loss from diseases. At the beginning of the period in this analysis (around 2002) there was very little use of fungicides to control foliar disease in North Carolina soybean production. This information shows that foliar diseases need to be aggressively managed to prevent yield loss in North Carolina, and that can be done through selecting resistant varieties, scouting for foliar diseases and rotating fungicides with different chemical modes of action.
  • Planting date. While the exact timing varies by region across the state, the contest data shows that earlier planting dates consistently increase soybean yields. “Our data verifies that planting earlier, before mid-May, is an important practice, particularly in high-yielding situations,” Vann says.
  • Herbicide use. The data also shows that more frequent herbicide applications resulted in higher soybean yields. The report adds that a robust, “multifaceted approach to chemical weed management is often necessary to protect soybean yield.”

Vann states that while some production practices won’t be relevant to every farmer across the country, the data collection and subsequent evaluation may be something all can contemplate.

“The idea of using producer-derived data to leverage something already going on provides a broader educational value,” she says. “Almost as valuable as seeing what works is understanding what doesn’t when it comes to strongly predicting high yield. By focusing on the most important variables, we can take a deeper dive into what truly impacts yields.”

Additional Resources for Achieving High Yields

Check out these links for more information on the North Carolina Soybean Yield Contest and Vann’s research and data analysis.

Find out how increasing yields with the right crop protection input can maximize your return on investment — whether you grow corn, soybeans or both.

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When you’re a grower, you know challenges are a part of life — especially when you’ve been in the profession for decades. From drought-stricken seasons to uncertain economic times, two row crop growers from different regions of the country have seen it all.

Davie Stephens from Clinton, Kentucky grows corn and soybeans in Western Kentucky and Northwest Tennessee. He graduated college from the University of Kentucky with a degree in agricultural economics. After graduation, he returned to Western Kentucky where he purchased his first farm and learned firsthand how to succeed as a grower. Thirty-five years later, he makes passing along his knowledge to others a top priority.

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I started with Trivapro the year it came out, and I’ve used it every year on every acre since. You get better plant health; and yield-wise, you can always see a 10-to-15-bushel-per-acre bump on corn.

Arlis Eitzmann Seed Manager at Aurora Co-op and Nebraska Grower

“I have always enjoyed getting involved with the community, whether I’m serving on the fair board or talking with young farmers,” says Stephens, who is also a member of the Kentucky Soybean Association and the American Soybean Association. “That’s something that has been important to me in my career — having conversations with different farmers on how to move agriculture forward for future generations.”

Nebraska native Arlis Eitzmann shares Stephens’ lifelong passion for agriculture. Currently living and working in Byron as a seed manager for Aurora Co-op, Eitzmann also grows corn on his own farm. Even before he started his profession as a seed salesman and raised hogs in the 1980s, farming was in his blood.

“I like to see things grow and watch the seed work, knowing that I have made the right recommendations for my customers’ crops and my own,” says Eitzmann. “It’s a pretty good life.”

A Seasoned Staple

As experienced growers, both Stephens and Eitzmann are constantly looking for innovative ways to improve their operations. But once they find a product that performs well, they’re hooked. Trivapro® corn fungicide is one of those products. Since its launch in 2016, Trivapro has helped safeguard growers’ yield potential and plant health from disease and stressful environmental conditions.

“I started with Trivapro the year it came out, and I’ve used it every year on every acre since,” says Eitzmann. “You get better plant health; and yield-wise, you can always see a 10-to-15-bushel-per-acre bump on corn.”

As a Syngenta Cleaner & Greener fungicide, Trivapro contains SOLATENOL®  technology. In addition to offering powerful disease control, this unique active ingredient boosts plant health by helping improve light absorption, water conservation and harvest efficiency for even greater potential yield gain and return on investment. Even in drought-ridden seasons like this one, Trivapro has become a necessary investment for these two growers to help protect yield potential.

“We experienced a drought in 2022, and we decided to do a test of Trivapro to monitor how healthy it kept the plants,” says Stephens. “The stalk health really caught my eye more than anything, and when the guys were in the combine harvesting those fields, they were really impressed with the way they yielded.”

In fact, years of data show that Trivapro works harder and lasts longer to help growers yield stronger with reliable results. In both wet and dry conditions, Trivapro delivers an average yield increase of 17.2 bushels per acre (bu/A) in wet seasons and 14.1 bu/A in drought over an untreated check.1 This consistency of high performance is what won over Stephens.

“Trivapro is just a great chemistry,” says Stephens. “It’s nice to go to bed at night, knowing you’ve got that longevity and that Trivapro is doing its due diligence.”

Moving Farming Forward

With decades of combined experience behind them and more seasons on the horizon, Stephens and Eitzmann have a lot to give to the next generation of growers, but acknowledge they still benefit from a steady stream of know-how and support from their fellow farmers — especially during challenging times.

“I always tell younger farmers to hang on and things will get better,” says Eitzmann.

Stephens agrees and counsels his less experienced counterparts to “take advice from people who have gone through different things, whether it’s something with the crop, droughts or high interest rates. The farm doesn’t exist without good community involvement — farmers helping farmers.”

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1Syngenta on-farm, large strip trials. 2020 trial locations: IA (2), IL (33), IN (6), NE (6), OH (13), WI (11) and SD (26). 2021 trial locations: IL (35), IN (9), WI (7) and SD (13).

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Farmers expect clean fields when they invest in a herbicide program. Still, nearly 40% of growers say Palmer amaranth and waterhemp are difficult to control with current preemergence corn herbicides.1 This challenge — and its potential impact on yield — led to the development of Storen™ corn herbicide, recently registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Storen is specifically designed for growers looking for next-level performance. It helps prevent or eliminate weeds through its powerful combination of four active ingredients that deliver maximum residual and long-lasting, consistent performance.

The formulation of the key active ingredients in Storen — bicyclopyrone, mesotrione, S-metolachlor and pyroxasulfone — provides residual that could last up to three weeks longer than other leading corn herbicides.2 This control can lead to clean rows and clear results by reducing weed escapes, resprays, weed interference and weed seed produced for future years.

Labeled for preemergence and post-emergence in field and seed corn, Storen controls* up to 74 weed species, including stubborn Palmer amaranth, waterhemp, kochia, common lambsquarters, morning glory, giant ragweed, common ragweed and annual grasses.

Contact your local Syngenta rep to see Storen in field trials. For more information about Storen, visit StorenWontQuit.com.

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1Syngenta market research, 2022. n=302.

2Storen length-of-control advantage based on 2022 Syngenta and university replicated trials comparing Storen to Resicore® and TriVolt™. Data source: 2022; HBI008A4-2022US. Weeks delivering 90% weed control.

*Control or partial control. See label for details.

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Chad and Darin Ratermann of Ratermann Brothers’ Grain and Livestock were young when they took over the family farming operation after their dad passed away; Chad was only 24 and Darin was only 18. Their operation is in Bartelso, Illinois, where they grow wheat, corn and soybeans. They also finish hogs and feed Holstein steers for market.

While starting so young was challenging, the support of their friends and neighbors helped them build a strong business. “We had a lot of good people that put trust in us which gave us different opportunities to grow,” says Chad Ratermann. “Early on, Syngenta became one of those partners for us.”

Every day, Syngenta employees work hard to earn the right to call themselves trusted partners, so it isn’t surprising that Craig Abell, national executive agronomist with Syngenta, did just that with the Ratermanns. Abell works closely with the Ratermanns to get them the most out of every acre in their operation.

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I’m impressed by how reliable Syngenta’s products and services are. Craig Abell and the dealers always take care of us and get products to us in a timely manner. It’s a good fit for our operation.

Chad Ratermann Ratermann Brothers’ Grain and Livestock

Abell and Chad first met at the National Farm Machinery Show where Abell built a management program for the Ratermanns’ operation of crop protection products from Syngenta. “Now, we always use Syngenta’s fungicide and insecticide programs on our soybeans,” Chad says. “I’m impressed by how reliable Syngenta’s products and services are. Craig Abell and the dealers always take care of us and get products to us in a timely manner. It’s a good fit for our operation.”

Chad credits his close partnership with Abell as a key part of his success. “When it’s time to order seeds, he usually rides with me in the combine and we discuss hybrids,” he says. “We speak a couple times a month on different topics in the industry and he’s really helpful with placing the seed orders. He’s just a good person to talk to, and it seems like he’s got a lot of the same interests as we do.”

Chad finds the confidence Syngenta has in their own products reassuring. He participates in the AgriClime™ program, which helps growers offset the risk of bad weather. “That’s telling me that they’re confident enough in their product that they can offer a weather protection program,” he says.

A strong, broad seed portfolio is important for the Ratermanns as they have acres in various counties, each with their own unique challenges. “We cover a pretty wide variety of different soil types, regions and weather patterns in the area we farm in,” Chad says. “We’ve always had very good yield results with Syngenta seeds. I’m not scared to put them up against any other hybrid or any other variety that I plant. I know I’m going to get an equal or better result out of it.”

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Chad is most impressed with the performance of Enogen® corn hybrids. He has consistently grown Enogen corn for cattle feed and fuel production. “We put it in our livestock silage and our high-moisture corn for our feeding feedlots,” he says. “Enogen corn gives a better feed efficiency in the cattle.”

Aside from their business relationship, Chad and Abell have developed a solid friendship. This past February at the Syngenta-sponsored Championship Tractor Pull at the National Farm Machinery Show, the Ratermanns competed in the 9,500lb limited pro stock tractor category. With Darin in the driver’s seat of their tractor, Full Boar, the brothers took home first place. Abell insisted on congratulating his friend on the track and helped present the first-place trophy. “That was a moment I’ll never forget, and it meant a lot to us,” Chad says.

Ratermann continues working closely with Abell and trusting Syngenta products. “We gained a real good relationship meeting Craig. I always feel like it’s a good quality product going in the ground.”

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Numerous top ag schools are also land-grant universities, meaning their purpose is for their graduates to support local communities.

From Ivy League to state schools, there are opportunities for everyone in ag.
Many historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were founded to support agriculture education; several HBCUs still drive that mission forward.

Higher education programs in food, agriculture and the environment are evolving as fast as the industry itself, and college students have a variety of agriculture majors from which to choose. More than 800,000 students participate in agricultural education instructional programs from grade seven through college in the U.S. and its territories, according to the National FFA Organization. The options are encouraging and overwhelming.

Anna Ball, associate dean for academic programs in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, encourages students to think about their own strengths and passions as they navigate prospective programs and careers.

“Holistically, I think that many of our students want to feed and save the world,” Ball says. “But then it’s about narrowing it down. In what ways do you want to save the world? In what ways do you want to make a difference? Match these answers with the majors that will help you carve out the difference you want to make.”

Choosing a college and major aligned with your goals is an important step in mapping out a career. This list from Niche ranks the traditional top 10 ag universities in the U.S. along with each school’s program offerings. Additionally, check out the spotlight on the top five HBCUs for ag programs.

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Holistically, I think that many of our students want to feed and save the world. But then it’s about narrowing it down. In what ways do you want to save the world? In what ways do you want to make a difference? Match these answers with the majors that will help you carve out the difference you want to make.

Anna Ball Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Traditional Top 10 Ag Programs

  1. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
    As one of the eight Ivy League schools, Cornell University is home to a world-class College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, which includes 22 undergraduate majors and 40 minors. Students can personalize their program and pursue a variety of traditional and emerging career tracks, such as sustainability.
  2. Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
    The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences offers undergraduate majors such as animal science and bioenvironmental science, along with social science disciplines like agricultural communications and journalism.
  3. University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
    The University of Georgia’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES) is known for its entomology program offerings and study abroad opportunities in 15 different countries. It’s been ranked second in the U.S. regarding best agricultural and horticultural plant breeding colleges, making it an excellent choice for students interested in horticulture.
  4. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
    Students looking to attend college in the sunshine state should consider the University of Florida’s (UF) College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. With 22 undergraduate majors and 42 specializations to choose from, UF offers undergrads an online quiz to discover which major may be a good fit for their career goals.
  5. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
    North Carolina State University’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences is a great school for those interested in pursuing a career to tackle the challenges surrounding food, agriculture, energy and the environment. Founded as a land-grant institution grounded in agriculture and engineering, NC State’s purpose is providing educational programs to improve communities within the state. Students participate in cutting-edge research and apply it to real-world issues across the state.
  6. University of California, Davis, Davis, California
    The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) has an international research reputation and offers 27 majors and 40 minors. This program supports undergrads exploring their future majors and careers through Career Discovery Groups, which show first-year students they aren’t alone in searching for an exciting ag career.
  7. The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
    The College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences offers 21 majors and related specializations, such as ag communications and community leadership, to prepare students for careers in the industry.
  8. University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
    The College of Agricultural Life Sciences (CALS) is part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M), both the flagship and land-grant University of Wisconsin. Aspiring ag professionals are sure to find a discipline that meets their goals within the 16 academic departments, 23 undergraduate majors and 47 graduate programs. UW-M prioritizes financial support for students. In the 2020-2021 academic year, the average scholarship award for CALS degree students was $1,886, and the overall awarded scholarship amount was $1,027,914.
  9. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois
    The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) boasts a 94% first destination secured rate among graduates and $3.5 million awarded in scholarships each year. In addition to job security and educational funding opportunities, ACES offers experiential learning, which 80% of students participate in throughout their degree program. “We’re equipping our students to be citizens of a global society and enter careers that support agriculture, food and environmental systems internationally. Roughly 40% of our students have some sort of global experience — we would love for it to be 100%, that’s the goal,” Ball says. “In addition to a world-class experience in their major, we engage our students in leadership enrichment experiences throughout their time here to become future leaders and change-makers in the agricultural industry.”
  10. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma
    The Ferguson College of Agriculture at Oklahoma State University is a public land-grant school that offers 16 different undergraduate major programs and more than 50 study options for agriculture students. For students who are interested in biosystems engineering degree programs, Ferguson provides this option through a partnership with the Oklahoma State University College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology.

Jeff Baker, a Syngenta crop protection talent acquisition leader for Syngenta North America, suggests students also seek valuable experience through extracurricular activities and internships to develop their career path and network. These pursuits and networks can ultimately help students secure employment upon graduation.

“We love seeing the students learn how to connect with folks outside of school within the agricultural industry,” Baker says. “Building your professional network is important.”

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Top Historically Black Colleges and Universities Ag Programs

Since the early 19th century, HBCUs have provided distinct opportunities for students of color.

Many HBCUs were founded as agricultural and engineering institutions but later expanded their academic disciplines. Today, there are still several HBCUs with strong agricultural programs for students looking to pursue their education in a diverse environment.

HBCU agricultural programs often partner with leading ag industry companies, such as Syngenta, to connect students with learning and professional opportunities.

“At our crop protection North America headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina, we have an outstanding relationship with NC A&T,” Baker says. “We hire a number of their graduates, as well as interns for our summer opportunities. NC A&T is an outstanding agricultural and technical college. Also, we’re very involved with Florida A&M, which is a national land-grant institution, so we are very active with their education and career development.”

According to The Edvocate, these are the top HBCUs for agriculture degree programs, all of which are national land-grant funded universities.

  1. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), Tallahassee, FloridaEstablished in 1891, the College of Agriculture and Food Sciences (CAFS) offers nine undergraduate degree programs and five graduate programs across agriculture, food, animal and environmental sciences. There are opportunities for students to make respected contributions to ag research and gain real-world experience along with their education.
  2. Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AlabamaFounded in 1881, Tuskegee University has a rich history in educating future agriculture professionals. The College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences offers three major disciplines for undergraduate studies with multiple concentrations. Graduate studies consist of five masters-level and three doctorate-level degree programs. Students can immerse themselves in world-class agriculture research.
  3. North Carolina A&T University, Greensboro, North CarolinaThe College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES) tackles challenges like feeding a global population and protecting the environment. The department offers nine undergraduate degrees and four graduate degrees. With 1,064 enrolled students, CAES is the largest agricultural school among the 1890 Land Grant Universities. NC A&T’s CAES currently holds 11 patents and 421 publications in refereed journals, making it a leader in ag innovation and research.
  4. Alcorn State University, Lorman, MississippiThe School of Agriculture and Applied Sciences offers undergraduate and graduate programs in agribusiness, animal science and environmental science. With a focus on professional development and experiential learning opportunities, this ag program offers internship programs and partnerships among private companies and government agencies like Cargill, John Deere, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and more.
  5. Southern University, Baton Rouge, LouisianaThe College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences (CAFCS) offers a Bachelor of Science degree across five concentrations, including ag economics, ag business, animal science, plant and soil science and pre-veterinary medicine. Furthermore, the Department of Agriculture Sciences offers the Chancellor’s Academic Apprenticeship Program, which awards students financial support through paid assistantships and opportunities for research participation with an assigned senior faculty mentor.

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The theme of this year’s Soil and Water Conservation Society conference — which took place from August 6 to 9 in Des Moines, Iowa — was, “Healthy Land, Clean Water: Cultivating a Legacy of Conservation.”

Syngenta proudly sponsors the conference each year, sharing the belief that the key to sustainable farming is building partnerships, initiatives and practices that encourage the local ecosystems and hardy working lands.

Farmers already have a heavy load on their shoulders. They’re the backbone of our food production system and the lifeline of our society. Among the many challenges they face is preserving and revitalizing the country’s land and waterways. Sustainable farming practices ensure future generations continue producing food for tables around the world.

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To us, healthy land is both productive and resilient. To ensure that our soil and water remain healthy for the next generation, we continue identifying solutions that help growers retain, or even exceed, current yields.

Dayna Gross Manager of programs and partnerships for North America Sustainability, Syngenta

Dayna Gross, manager of programs and partnerships for North America Sustainability at Syngenta, pairs her passion for sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation with decades of experience. “To us, healthy land is both productive and resilient,” she says. “To ensure that our soil and water remain healthy for the next generation, we continue identifying solutions that help growers retain, or even exceed, current yields.”

Sustainable practices help keep farmers profitable while meeting society’s needs.

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“In my role, I have a front row seat to see how Syngenta puts the ideals of preserving the environment into practice,” Gross says. This includes supporting a Pheasants Forever program incentivizing growers to convert portions of land into habitats for birds and pollinators. “We’ve used a similar concept for other projects and partnered with the J.R. Simplot Company to turn marginal acres into beneficial insect habitats near potato fields,” Gross says. “And, in collaboration with the Sand County Foundation, we support a conservation payment program that helps growers improve the water quality within their watershed.”

To learn more about conversation practices and partnerships, and to access educational resources, please visit www.BeeHealth.org.

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A partnership between Syngenta, the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) and the California Rice Commission (CRC) was forged to address the decline of California’s native fish by working to restore their habitats. Most of these species use floodplains in the Central Valley as a habitat during their outmigration. The partnership project focuses on the floodplains of the Sacramento River within the Sutter and Yolo Bypasses. These bypasses can be used to farm rice in the summer, and for flood control and ecosystems in the winter.

“Syngenta is pleased to have supported this project from its early stages. We have worked with the California rice industry for many years, and this was an outgrowth of our longstanding relationship and shared focus on environmental performance,” says Ben Sacher, lead, state affairs at Syngenta. “This project changes the narrative around the role that productive agriculture has in achieving environmental outcomes. It creates a positive impact on the salmon, and a new opportunity for the rice industry to deliver environmental benefits alongside its crop. This is a powerful example of how agricultural groups, non-profits and companies like Syngenta can work on important challenges.”

Q. What happened to the salmon habitats in California?

A. Andrew L. Rypel, Ph.D., Professor, Peter B. Moyle & California Trout Endowed Chair, Department of Wildlife, Fish & Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis: Salmon are declining for a host of reasons — dams, fishing, water extraction, loss of wetlands, to name a few. We are collaborating to get more salmon on the landscape as the loss of salmon is bad for everyone. Forest ecosystems in the spawning grounds get shut off from marine-derived nitrogen that salmon brings. Indigenous communities lose nutritious food and a sacred animal from the landscape. California fishing communities lose a source of revenue, and businesses, including farms, get mired in environmental regulations. Our work shows how winter-flooded rice fields can be used to expand habitats to juvenile salmon; rice growers are a major part of the solution to save salmon. Ninety-five percent of the historical floodplain was eliminated in California, yet there are 500,000 acres of rice fields. We are thinking creatively to use these lands to mimic the historical floodplains. This project shows how farms, ecosystems and flood control work together for a common good.

A. Paul Buttner, Manager of Environmental Affairs, California Rice Commission (CRC): Growth rates of baby salmon placed into winter-flooded rice fields are proven notable due to significant amounts of zooplankton, the natural food source baby salmon rely on. We hope to develop a management practice to extend the period when threatened runs of salmon can benefit from these fields, increase the habitat quality and enable the fish to willingly enter/exit the fields. There are many technical challenges that are being addressed through pilot-scale implementation and adaptive management over a period of years.

Q. What is your organization’s role in the project and why did you choose to get involved?

A. Rypel: It takes science, hard work and collaboration to get the pieces in place so we can move forward. We are finding ways to get the salmon on the fields, have them rear and get safely out. Our UC Davis team works on questions like how to drill holes and notches in rice boards to allow fish safe passage. We’ve done fish tracking studies and piloted technology and web applications to measure dissolved oxygen in real time and transmit those data into a website so managers can monitor temperature and oxygen conditions in the fields. If fields begin to develop harmful conditions, we have protocols to pull the boards and evacuate the fish. We are researching to show that this practice benefits the fish. These issues are important when you are working with an endangered species.

A. Buttner: The California rice industry is known as the Environmental Crop due in part to the focus on providing habitat enhancement for wetland-dependent species in the Pacific Flyway. CRC decided to work on using rice fields to help salmon recovery after early scientific work by California Trout (CalTrout) and UC Davis demonstrated that the reactivation of the historic floodplain is a vital element to salmon recovery and may be suited to provide a high-quality habitat for salmon.

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This project changes the narrative around the role that productive agriculture has in achieving environmental outcomes. It creates a positive impact on the salmon, and a new opportunity for the rice industry to deliver environmental benefits alongside its crop. This is a powerful example of how agricultural groups, non-profits and companies like Syngenta can work on important challenges.

Ben Sacher Syngenta State Affairs Lead

Q. How do your organizations collaborate on the project?

A. Rypel: It takes a village. The CRC has had major success with conservation programs and with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). They know the growers and their issues and economics. We identify critical science needs and design studies to answer key questions. This is important when we work through concerns from regulatory and resource agencies. UC Davis students are engaged in the work; we are training the next generation to solve problems that are collaborative, innovative and community-oriented. NRCS helped start this program and addresses concerns as they arise. Our agency partners are generous and patient — they help us see the regulatory side and provide insight into their stakeholder concerns and public mandates. Some agencies have their own scientists who help us. None of this is possible without partnerships with private industry — including the rice growers and sponsors like Syngenta. I give Syngenta a lot of credit for having the vision to see what we are trying to achieve. It is probably the most exciting science project I have ever been a part of, and the support of our project sponsors, especially Syngenta, continues to enable that.

A. Buttner: CRC is leading the overall effort with the centerpiece being two grants provided to CRC by the NRCS, which committed nearly $1.2 million. This funding requires 1:1 matching partner contributions in the form of in-kind technical assistance and/or financial contributions. This is where Syngenta’s commitment comes in as they contributed about half of these required matching funds or about 25% of the total project costs thus far. This major contribution, combined with others (see: Salmon.CalRice.org), enabled CRC to move forward.

Q. Why are stewardship projects, in general, important for organizations, universities and companies to get involved in?

A. Rypel: Humans have a major impact on ecosystems, and we need to accept that humans are mostly in charge. This leads to some interesting places, like thinking through the kinds of ecosystem services we value and exploring ways to harmonize farming with ecosystems. That’s the future, and the kind of work we should do more of. Having institutions with diverse missions collaborate toward these solutions is exciting, and I am proud to be part of it.

A. Buttner: We know the potential for rice to provide significant environmental benefits and be an important food source. Our growers participate by implementing stewardship practices on their farms. Often the costs are shared by the beneficiaries of these positive outcomes through the Farm Bill Conservation Title and other state and federal programs.

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Q. What do you hope to achieve at the end of this habitat restoration project?

A. Rypel: We are aiming for a conservation practice for NRCS that incentivizes rice growers to participate in salmon conservation. I hope we boost the salmon populations as they are some of the most interesting and important animals in California, and on Earth. They deserve saving.

A. Buttner: We hope to have a proven program option our growers can enroll in to provide a high-quality salmon habitat for struggling salmon runs in the Sacramento Valley. This would be a great complementary program to our many existing programs that offer management practices to benefit waterbirds, which are also highly reliant upon California rice fields.