Ascencion Ibarra, manager of Windy River Farms in Hermiston, said he naturally is skeptical when new crops come into the arid Columbia Basin.

And just because it was DuPont Pioneer, an international seed company founded in 1926, the skepticism didnt go away.

Ibarra watched and waited in 2009 as Pioneer contracted with area growers for seed corn for the first time. Ibarra planted 20 acres of corn for Pioneer Seed in 2010, increased that to 60 acres in 2011, and this year as corn seed harvest approaches, he is preparing to harvest 434 acres for the DuPont subsidiary.

The trust level is going up, he said, I think on both ends.

If we get (the yield) budget, it competes favorably to field corn and other crops, Ibarra said. It will be a good deal for us.

I think there were skeptics when they first came, said Teres Fair, who farms just down the road from Ibarra. People were wary, because they didnt know what their end-goal was.

I mean, all of a sudden these guys want to dig up 1 acre of ground and plant corn, and people looked at them like they were crazy, she said.

Today, Fair said, people are embracing the company for the employment and tax revenue they bring to the Hermiston area, and for the opportunity to grow another crop.

For the small scale grower, this is very big, Fair said.

And for a grower my size, it is big because the seed produced here will grow well here. Its nice to have the research here so we can benefit on site, she said.

And the employment that it offers has been big for the area. It has benefited our community in a lot of ways, and I see that as something that will continue to grow, she said.

DuPont Pioneer, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, sank $35 million into a state-of-the-art plant in Hermiston in 2009 with eight buildings, including a husk-sorting building, a warehouse, office space and a research facility.

The company liked that, compared to the Midwest, few corn acres were in production here, allowing it to obtain isolation distances necessary to produce clean hybrid seed. It also likes the arid climate, which tends to reduce disease pressure, and it found skilled growers here ready to produce its seed.

The company also found the area receptive to its plans.

The area has been very receptive to us being here, said Les Heeringa, location manager of the Hermiston Parent Seed Plant, both the growers, municipalities and the state.

Its been a good working partnership with the growers, he said.

Pioneer has contracted for corn seed production on 6,000 acres in the area this year, Heeringa said. About 150 growers are producing the seed corn on roughly 1,050 fields.

Contracted acreage runs from as little as 1 acre, where test hybrids are grown, to 150 acre circles where parent seed and export hybrids are produced.

Growers receive bonuses if they exceed yield targets, a facet that gives growers buy-in on the production, Heeringa said.

Heeringa said the plant is still working out some bugs and refining its production process.

But, he said: I think it would be fair to say the facility has surpassed expectations.

And with what is happening to the corn crop in the Midwest this year (because of drought), its a good thing weve got a crop here to help the cause, he said.