In practice, farmers plant Bt corn as insurance against insect damage. But it insulates them from major yield losses. The durability of Bt corn eases Dunkirk's headlong rush to bring in the corn crop, as he harvests with only one combine. Borer-weakened corn carries a much greater risk of losing yield late in the season, from dropping ears or even whole plants toppling in the wind. Dunkirk plans to plant another 100 acres of his corn in a high-oil variety, which will be ground into feed for his hog operation.
Higher oil means higher energy content, making it a more efficient feed source.
Always seeking ways to improve on cash commodity prices, grain farmers have aggressively pushed into a variety of specialty crops that are often contracted to a buyer with a precise need. Varieties bred for nutritional properties such as higher oil or more digestible starch, processing features such as a harder kernel valued in the milling industry, or food-grade use such as white, blue or corn all are grown in central Illinois. The choices available to farmers are likely to expand rapidly with genetic engineering, as many existing traits established with conventional breeding are greatly amplified, while new traits are pioneered. Currently, several seed companies operate in central Illinois. Dunkirk's 950 acres of soybeans are reserved for a pair of those firms, Novartis and Pioneer, under contracts that usually are signed at the end of February.