Forage Products and Research Leaders

More acres across North America are planted with Pioneer® brand hybrids for corn silage than any other brand. This is due to Pioneer's state-of-the-art corn silage research program and solid silage hybrid performance. Pioneer began corn silage-specific research in the early 1970s and continues to lead the industry in silage hybrid evaluation. Pioneer conducts a full circle of corn silage research, from plant to animal and back again. It starts with the corn silage hybrids developed in our breeding program. These hybrids are evaluated in research plots, the lab, in cattle at the Pioneer Livestock Nutrition Center and in growers' fields.

At Pioneer, corn breeders and nutritionists work together to deliver silage products that bring a "balanced" package of defensive agronomic traits and nutritional traits. Pioneer corn breeders are combining inbred lines containing valuable silage traits to develop hybrids needed by silage growers and milk producers. These traits include forage yield, fiber digestibility and energy content. Only the best candidates advance to field plots, where they are tested for forage yield, then sampled and analyzed for real-world nutritional value. The emphasis is on measuring and improving traits that impact the performance of animals fed whole-plant corn silage.

Pioneer's Nutritional and Grain Sciences lab analyzes 60,000 grain, forage and inoculated forage samples per year and houses a wide range of bench-top assay equipment and other analytical tools to help identify and characterize grain and forage traits. The knowledge collected from these samples help set the direction for our corn silage breeding program.

By the time a Pioneer® brand corn silage hybrid is offered for sale, it has been tested at more than 150 research locations, and in more than 200 customers' fields. This rigorous testing system helps Pioneer researchers develop leading edge, new genetics with a total package of traits that add value to your operation.

Pioneer currently employs more than a dozen nutritionists, veterinarians and livestock specialists. In addition, Pioneer sales professionals are trained to help producers select the right hybrids and forage additives for individual situations and needs.