“We are amazed at the toughness of this corn, we planted a competitor variety and it fell over. Hycorn 675 performed OK on the lighter country but the Hycorn 424 has hung in like a champion – as far as we are concerned it is the only corn to grow,” they said.

The Fergusons plant feed corn due to the better economic return over processing corn. They also believe that the marketing issues associated with grit corns are too restrictive and don’t increase the farm bottom line.

“We only grow feed corn now because we know we can get a better return per hectare with the increase in yields of varieties like 424 over processing varieties and the end users of processing corns are not remunerating for the extra quality specs required,” they said.

“Even considering processing premiums, we come out on top with Hycorn 424 every year and that’s what our decisions are governed by at the end of the day - the bottom line returns.”

“Our Hycorn 424 is marketed to various outlets including a pet food processor near Sydney, so we never have any trouble finding a market for the product.”

Caption:  Bill Ferguson, Broxbourne Bowenville has plenty to smile about even in last season’s drought conditions, due to the strong performance over several seasons from Hycorn 424. The family refer to it as their desert corn as it continually performs in tough conditions when other softer varieties that have been breed in the USA, fail them.