A couple years ago, farmer Chad Moore’s seed dealer was looking for people to try out a new product — short corn, from the agriculture company Bayer.

“I had never heard of it before,” Moore said. “I've always been kind of looking to do things a little bit different, try things out on the farm year after year. And I thought, ‘Sure, I'll try a box of that and see what happens.’”

Moore is a third-generation farmer who grows corn and soybeans on about 1800 acres in central Illinois, south of Decatur. He's also the self-described guinea pig among farmers in his area and is now in his second year growing the short-stature corn, called the Preceon Smart Corn System.

The new variety doesn’t look too different from the road. It’s only about three to four feet shorter than the rows of corn you se

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