Two of our three daughters, and my wife as a high schooler, engaged in the infamous corn country summer employment that thousands of teenagers have participated here in the Midwest: Detasseling.

An employee of Ailes Detasseling walks through a seed corn field near Utica, Neb., in 2024. Detasseling is seen as a rite of passage for Midwest teenagers, but in recent years, more of the detasseling ...

There were fewer local workers detasseling seed corn in Iowa in 2025 than in previous years as the number of temporary migrant laborers with H-2A visas doing the jobs increased, according to data ...

David Powell spent the last 13 July's walking through corn fields. He's one of about 18 people detasseling corn at a Geneseo research field for Wyffels Hybrids. His average of about 17,000 steps a day ...

For decades, corn detasseling was a customary summer job for teenagers in Nebraska and the rest of the Corn Belt. In recent years, however, agriculture companies are relying more on migrant labor to ...

Prior to the kids going into the fields, detasseling machines remove approximately 70 percent of the tassels. The kids clean up what the machines were unable to get. In detasseling, timing is ...

DEWEY, Ill. (AP) -- For migrant workers and teens on summer break, mid-July in central Illinois means one thing: corn detasseling. For a few weeks every summer, crews of workers trudge through wet and ...

Candice Fuson sails between rows of 6-foot corn plants, not pausing to wipe the mix of sweat and morning dew that drenches her face, long-sleeved windbreaker and gloved hands.The 15-year-old's ...

This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. If I say the words corn detasseling, ...

If I say the words corn detasseling, you probably do not think glamorous job - and you'd be right. It is hot. It is dirty. It is also a summer job that pays well for many teenagers in the Midwest.