Jon Massman is the soybean technology lead for North American plant breeding at Corteva Agriscience, where he leads a group of scientists working at the intersection of cutting-edge science and breeding to develop the next generation of technology that will ultimately drive higher yields and more stable products. His team works on a variety of technologies from field phenotyping to genetic analysis. Additionally, he manages a portfolio of innovation projects, which through a collaboration with Corteva’s open innovation portal, seek to identify and partner with internal and external efforts to advance soybean breeding worldwide.

Massman has served as Coretva’s representative on the ISRC’s Industry Advisory Council for the past two years and says, “Working with the ISRC has been very exciting. Leveraging expertise and collaborations with public partners has become foundational to private plant breeding success. I have had the opportunity to interact with many great industry and public soybean scientists, and through that work have hopefully had a positive impact on the soybean farmers of Iowa.”

Massman was born in Grinnell, IA, but he mostly grew up in central Illinois in a small farming community. He returned to Iowa to attend Iowa State University for engineering, but his interests changed during his sophomore year when his roommate helped him get a job pruning apple trees at the ISU Horticulture Farm. With an interest in plant science, he changed his major to agronomy the following year, eventually graduating with a BS in agronomy. He went on to earn his MS and PhD in plant breeding at the University of Minnesota.