Corn, soybean company back to its roots in research

Staff and News Services

JOHNSTON, Iowa — Pioneer Hi-Bred International chief Rick McConnell is taking the company, which was acquired by DuPont two years ago, back to its roots.

Farm-based research is the key to better living standards, says Rick McConnell, president of Pioneer Hi-Bred International. Gannett News Service

Like Wallace, McConnell believes "corn is a fun crop to grow ... a great plant to work with." Like Wallace, he slips easily from his role as corporate executive into discussions of plant genetics, breeding, disease susceptibility and crop yields. Like Wallace, he believes that farm-based research is the key to better living standards.

Pioneer produces and sells hybrid seed corn worldwide and employs about 5,000 people.

In Hawai'i, Pioneer has operations on O'ahu and Kaua'i. Last week, Pioneer announced that it has cut its Kaua'i parent seed production effort by almost two-thirds from its high two years ago because it has a surplus of seed, in part because of the efficiency of the operation.

The firm has two programs on Kaua'i. Its production effort at a plant outside Kekaha, which produces the parent seed for hybrids, was farming 1,000 acres with 16 full-time and three part-time regular employees two years ago. This year, that will be cut to about 300 acres and eight full-time employees.

The second Pioneer program, its research facility on the banks of the Waimea River, will have four positions eliminated, but they will be replaced by three higher-level spots.

No changes are planned at Pioneer's two-year-old parent seed operation at Waialua, O'ahu. That facility has 12 full-time employees and is growing to 700 acres.

McConnell said Pioneer's next chapter is one of innovation. "One of the dreams I have is to be able to replace our dependence on petroleum by using plants," he said.

Crop genetics also may open the door to helping reduce cholesterol in meat by developing new grains to feed to animals, he said.

There also are possibilities to create synthetic materials from soybeans that could replace certain plastics and to develop a soy diesel fuel, according to McConnell.

A science background gives him a different perspective from other recent heads of Pioneer, whose formal educations were in business or accounting. He is the first research scientist to lead the company since William Brown, who was president from 1975 to 1979.

Most of his field time involves a riding lawn mower. He uses it to maintain the yard on his 29-acre property in nearby Grimes, Iowa, where he lives with his wife, Deborah, and three children.

He was named president of Pioneer in August, succeeding Jerry Chicoine, 57, who retired after a year as Pioneer's chief.

McConnell took over a company in transition, a challenge the Colorado native says he welcomed.

"We are creating a whole new culture, and we're a part of the next generation of DuPont company," he said. "We knew the landscape was going to change, but it's been a positive change. We will continue to maintain our heritage."

McConnell heads DuPont's Pioneer division and DuPont Crop Protection and DuPont Specialty Grains.

Don Duvick, a retired senior vice president of research at Pioneer, said his strong research skills helped propel him within the company.

"He was a solid practical plant breeder rather than being a researcher looking for scientific principles," he said.