Andi Real interviews a sweet corn breeder to better learn how he uses communication skills in his job.

1. Sweet Corn Breeder
By Andi Real

2. Kendell Hellewell
 Lives in Kuna, ID with his family
 Sweet Corn Breeder for Monsanto
 Directs the temperate sweet corn breeding program
 Previously a line development field corn breeder and soft white winter wheat
breeder

3. His Job
 Develops new sweet corn hybrids
 Travels to other countries to evaluate sweet corn plots

4. Monsanto
 http://bcove.me/2bkfea2d
 Sustainable agriculture company

5. GMOs

6. Education
Required Schooling
 Bachelor in an ag major
 Masters in Plant Breeding
 Optional PhD in Plant Breeding
Kendall’s Schooling
 Bachelor in Agronomy and Crop
Science from BYU
 Masters/PhD in Agricultural and
Horticultural Plant Breeding from
University of Minnesota

7. Job Skills
 Knowledge of genetics and plant breeds
 Computer skills
 Knowledge of biotechnology
 People management skills

8. Importance of Communication
 Gets around 75 e-mails a day
 Has to make lots of presentations in meetings

9. Favorite Parts of the Job
 Constantly changing
 Get to see what you’ve created
 Excitement of seeing if what you created actually works

10. Unique Aspects
 Get to be involved in farming without actually being a farmer
 Gets to see the world

11. Challenges
 Time management
 Prioritizing work
 Often more work than is able to be done

12. Why Plant Breeding?
 Read it in a magazine and thought it sounded like something he wanted to do

13. Salary and Benefits
 Starting PhD: $95-100,000 a year
 Steadily moves up with more experience
 After 3 years experience you get 4 weeks of vacation and 14 holidays

14. Why I’m Interested
 I never knew what Kendell actually did
 I want to travel