Glenn and Virginia Gleason, of La Harpe, subscribe to a magazine called "Our Iowa".
In the April/May edition was a packet of seeds which had been imported from Mexico and Brazil with the help of Dave Bubeck, maize research director, at Pioneer Hi-Bred in Johnston, Iowa.
There were over 60,000 packets of seed hand-packed and sent out.
If you were an Iowa resident who received the seeds you were able to enter a contest to see who could grow the tallest stalk.
Due to the daylight difference between the midwest and the equator, where the seeds are normally grown, it is said that the stalks could reach up to 15 ft here in the midwest.
Glenn thought he would give it a try and planted the seed out by his flagpole which he calls the North Forty around May 15th.
Needless to say, he has a stalk that has reached the 15 ft mark. Too bad he couldn't have entered the contest.
Glenn and Virginia have really enjoyed watching the stalks take off and grow and have had many people stop by and inquire about it. They are going to keep some of the corn and replant it next year and see if any of it will come back.