CropLife Retail Week Special Edition: Brevant Seeds

Brevant Seeds’ Anthony Lackore joins CropLife’s Eric Sfiligoj to discuss how genetics, innovation, and AI are transforming agriculture.

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*Below is a partial and edited transcript:

Eric Sfiligoj: I’m Eric Sfiligoj, editor of CropLife Magazine, here with a special edition of CropLife Retail Week. We have a special guest this week: Anthony Lackore, Area Business Leader for Brevant Seeds at Corteva Agriscience. Welcome to the program.

Anthony Lackore: Hey Eric, thanks for having me. I’m looking forward to our conversation today.

Eric Sfiligoj: Very good. Let’s start out simply—tell our viewers a little bit about yourself, your background, and how you came to join Brevant.

Anthony Lackore: I’ve got a pretty rich history in agriculture. I grew up in Iowa on a century family farm, so it’s deeply rooted in me. I went to Iowa State for agriculture and joined Corteva right out of college. This summer marked 15 years with the organization.

I’ve served in various roles both in the U.S. and globally—seed production, sales, agronomy, and even precision agronomy. Over the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity to lead our sales team for the Eastern Corn Belt region.

Eric Sfiligoj: Very good. I’ll just say—Iowa State disappointed me over the weekend. It was a hard-fought battle.

Anthony Lackore: You’re right. And it’s funny, whenever I’m in Iowa, I always know where I am based on the license plates—whether they say Hawkeye or Cyclone. That lets me know which part of the state I’m in.

Eric Sfiligoj: Absolutely. So now that we’re into fall—I’ve been raking a lot of leaves lately—how is Brevant gearing up for the season? I know it’s a busy time for growers and ag retailers.

Anthony Lackore: It’s an exciting time of year. Fall is when we really start seeing the results of decisions made earlier in the season.

We’re particularly excited about our 2025 class of corn and soybean products. Early results show an 11.6 bushel advantage on corn and 2.8 bushel advantage on soybeans.

We’re evaluating performance not just on yield, but agronomics too—through internal testing, Corteva’s IMPACT trials, retailer evaluations, and on-farm trials. Our focus is working with retail partners to assess the best products and management practices heading into the 2026 growing season.

Eric Sfiligoj: Before we look ahead to 2026, let’s stick with 2025. I’m in Ohio, and this year, about 80 of our 88 counties were in extreme drought. What kind of feedback have you received from Brevant customers, and how have your seeds performed?

Anthony Lackore: Great question. I often reflect on something a grower told me years ago. I asked him how long he’d been farming, and he said, “Anthony, you’ve only farmed one year—because every year is different.”

That’s very true. Many areas had good rainfall in June and July, but in August, it shut off completely. That introduced stress and variability.

Despite that, we feel good about how our genetics are holding up. We’ve got a strong track record in drought tolerance, especially through our AQUAmax breeding. Early harvest reports are positive, not only in drought-affected areas but also those hit with disease pressure.

Eric Sfiligoj: Interesting. Yeah, I’ve heard older growers say that even with today’s droughts, the improved genetics make a huge difference compared to the 1980s.

Anthony Lackore: Absolutely. I remember a time on our farm 2–3 years ago during a critical dry spell. My dad pointed out how 15 or 20 years ago, we’d have been harvesting 185-bushel corn. But that year, we were picking over 225. It’s astonishing what genetics can do under stress.

Eric Sfiligoj: Speaking of genetics, let’s shift to 2026. By November and December, growers are making seed decisions. What is Brevant doing to prepare for 2026, and what new varieties or technologies are on the horizon?

Anthony Lackore: At our core, Brevant brings nearly 100 years of genetic breeding and advancements to the table. That’s our foundation.

Looking ahead, we’re excited about transitioning to new technologies. For corn, we’re introducing traits like Vorceed Enlist and PowerCore Enlist, offering strong insect tolerance.

In soybeans, our portfolio is 100% exclusive Corteva genetics within the Enlist E3 system. We’re also advancing our soybean portfolio to tackle challenges like soybean cyst nematode (SCN) through our Peking offering.

We aim to meet every farm’s unique needs—whether that’s yield, pest control, or disease resistance.

Eric Sfiligoj: Very good. Back in July, I attended a field day near Corteva HQ in Iowa and talked to the Brevant folks. You were celebrating your five-year anniversary, and I even got one of those “magic five balls”—every answer was positive, of course.

Tell me more about how Brevant has celebrated five years, and how has the company changed?

Anthony Lackore: Great question. Launching the Brevant brand in 2020 was one of the boldest moves in modern American ag. Before that, retail had no access to Corteva genetics for 20–30 years.

Launching Brevant was a full commitment to delivering best-in-class genetics to retail. Over these five years, the momentum we’ve built and the products we’ve delivered have generated real excitement—both within our teams and with customers.

We’ve shared that story at field days throughout the year, and our message is clear—we’re not done. The next five years will continue that momentum and bring even more innovation to our customers and retail partners.

Eric Sfiligoj: Looking further ahead—say, to 2030—what’s the long-term vision for Brevant?

Anthony Lackore: Our mission is centered on delivering best-in-class products to our retail partners and customers.

We have a clear line of sight into the 2030s for our trait pipeline—both for corn and soybeans. That includes next-generation technologies like reduced-stature corn, gene editing for disease resistance, and new herbicide-tolerant soybean traits.

The pipeline is full and exciting. That gives us long-term confidence in our ability to bring value-added solutions to growers.

Eric Sfiligoj: Speaking of future tech—many companies are now leaning heavily into artificial intelligence. Is Brevant using AI in R&D?

Anthony Lackore: Absolutely. Internally, we’ve been using AI long before it became a buzzword.

In R&D, it helps accelerate product advancement. In seed production, AI supports reliability and quality. It’s an exciting tool that we’re fully embracing to enhance our capabilities—and we’ll continue to explore its potential across the business.

Eric Sfiligoj: Very good. We’ll be watching for future developments from Brevant.