According to Rader Detasseling, the top or the tassel of the corn plant is pulled by the detasseler so the plant cannot pollinate itself. The tassel is the male part of the corn plant. The ear shoot ...

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 ...

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.

MONTICELLO — Corn detasseling may be considered hard labor, but for about 85 teenagers, it’s their only summer job and they are glad to have it. There is something particularly unique this summer ...

TAMPICO, Ill. --- Donald "Goody" Matthews and his wife, Virginia, are looking for answers after two 14-year-old girls were electrocuted Monday while detasseling corn on their farm in Whiteside County.

State senators Friday gave 45-0 final approval to a bill meant to stem the trend of seed corn producers turning to migrant workers instead of Nebraska teenagers to detassel cornfields. The vote on ...

COLUMBUS — Thirteen-year-old Lance Borer doesn’t mind spending part of his summer sacrificing sleep, rising well before many adults and completing an entire work day before some of his peers even get ...

DAVID CITY — As three busloads of bleary-eyed teenagers unloaded into a cornfield west of David City, Buresh Detasseling office manager and weekend cheerleader Steph Canning got them moving. “You ...

OMAHA (AP) - Abi Swanson is a self-described girly girl who's doing hard labor. The 13-year-old from Lincoln is saving money for ballet lessons, so she's been slogging through eastern Nebraska farm ...

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Nebraska lawmakers moved one step closer Tuesday to clarifying that seed corn producers in Nebraska should hire local youths for detasseling before using temporary, nonimmigrant ...

It has become a summer rite of passage and a good way to make some extra spending money for young people in corn country. For two or three weeks every summer, hundreds of kids — generally middle ...