on a dewy July morning when the doors of a school bus open to unload dozens of blurry-eyed teenagers next to a cornfield. These kids, at least for a few weeks, have given up the dream of lazy summer days, for the desire to purchase new electronics, new clothes, a first car, or start saving for college. They'll spend the day slogging through muddy fields of tall, leafy corn, pulling off the foot lo
ng green tassels. The goal is to take these tassels off of the plants in certain rows to produce a yield of hybrid seed corn in one of the nation's most corn rich regions. The job is called detasseling; it's a Midwest-specific chore where the male pollinating organs are removed from specific stalks and left on others to allow for cross-pollination, with the intended results being a more vigorous, productive seed. "Each plant has a male part, the tassel, and a female part, the ear," says Bruce Erickson, Education Manager for the American Society of Agronomy, "if you want to produce hybrid seed, you have to remove the male parts on the "female" rows, and you leave the male parts on the "male" rows that cross-pollinate. The female rows are the rows that get harvested." Machines usually perform the first detasseling pass on a field; a “cutter” chops the tops of the corn, the “puller” uses two rollers to remove the tassel, but because stalks are variable heights, machines can only clear between 60 to 80 percent of the tassels; depending on a company’s standard, a field must be between 99.5 percent to 99.8 percent clean or the seed will be contaminated. The morning air carries a chill and dew is thick on the corn leaves; after the first pass through the corn, groups return dripping wet and shivering, some wringing out the bottoms of their shirts, others complaining of numb fingers. During an intense heat wave the week earlier, it was the opposite, sweat beading on foreheads by 7 a.m. Even on moderate weather days, there is the constant threat of corn rash & sunburn. But besides a little grumbling, the field is abuzz with voices, laughter, banter; the packed bus is rife with teasing, flirting, trouble-making. It’s a microcosm of the teen world, and most kids are eager to be here. At the end of the row, kids congregate around a water dispenser on a truck bed in front of the mobile Porta Potty. They’re hustled back into the corn by crew foreman who is responsible for keeping the younger kids on task. Detasseling is equal parts job and social club; choosing the right company to work for in the summer involves multiple variables like friends, family connections and a company’s reputation. Things like “horseplay and attitude” can get kids sidelined on the bus for a few hours without pay. As the bus nears the field each morning the contractor gives a short safety meeting, covering topics such as horseplay, heat rash, dehydration, proper clothing and safety gear, weather, REI (return entry interval, the time we have to stay out of a field after chemicals have been applied. At the end of the season bonuses may be given based upon attendance, work ethic, safety, and quality of work. Detasselers are expected to average between $800 and $1,000 take-home pay.
