“Detasseling Is a Hot Job” — Matt’s first job and his first newspaper story (1980)

Full text

Transcribed by hand from Matt Sesow’s clipping (photo sent by Matt), October 18, 2026.

DETASSELING IS A HOT JOB

By BILL RIGGINS
Sun staff writer

STERLING—It was hot, but the teen-agers in the cornfield weren't complaining. They didn't have time.

It was 12:30 p.m. and they were detasseling corn at a feverish pace, hoping to finish by 1 so they could get back on the school buses that brought them to the field and return to the land of air conditioners.

The detasseling crew working in the field west of Sterling was from Lincoln.

Their day starts when they get up at 4 a.m. They leave Lincoln at 5:30 and are in the field by 6:30. They usually are home by 2 p.m.

Pat Scott, 14, Lincoln, is detasseling corn for the second year. He said it was a good way to make extra money.

"It's easy money," he said. "You don't have to work that hard. It's just a matter of doing a lot of walking and getting up at 4."

Scott figured he would make about $375 in the two and a half to three-week detasseling season.

Kevin Wieser, 15, and Matt Sesow, 13, both of Lincoln, agreed that getting up at 4 and working under the hot sun were disadvantages to the job, but said the money made it worthwhile.

"You also get a good tan," Wieser said.

This is Wieser's third year detasseling corn and this year he has moved up to the position of "checker," a sort of supervisor who walks down the cornrows and makes sure the detasselers are doing the job right.

The detasselers are supervised by five high school teachers from Bellevue who contract with a seed company to detassel the corn.

John Lang, one of the teachers, said this was the seventh year the teachers had supervised detasseling crews.

"We're all teachers so we have to make some extra money somehow," he said.

Lang said that this year the teachers were operating two crews out of Lincoln and one out of Ralston.

He said detasseling started in the Sterling area Saturday and would run for 10-14 days.

He said his crews would detassel 200 to 500 acres of corn in the area.

Ron Habrich, another teacher, said the seed company they contracted with had about 1,000 acres in the area that had to be detasseled.

Lang said the starting pay for detasselers was $3.10 an hour with the better workers making $3.40.

Some workers with several years experience are making more than $4 an hour, he said.

NO TIME TO COMPLAIN

Thirteen is the minimum age for detasselers and most of them are ages 14-16.

Habrich said that without detasseling, many of the teen-agers would not have summer jobs.

"The turnover hasn't been quite as bad this year because jobs are tougher to get," he said.

"I can give a kid who works out here for two weeks a better recommendation than could a lot of bosses who he might work for for two years. It's a tough job and you've got to have guts to do it," he said.

Habrich said there had been few problems with the heat this year, mainly because the crew usually quits by 1 p.m.

Corn detasseling also provides an important source of income for Gage County teen-agers.

Jesse Otte, with the Nebraska Job Service in Beatrice, said 135-140 teen-agers from Beatrice and Wymore are working as detasselers.

Another 40-50 from Thayer County also are detasseling, he said.

[Photo caption] Corn detasseling is hot, dirty work. But the teen-agers who earn money detasseling each summer say the money makes it worthwhile.

[Matt Sesow's note on the clipping, with a red arrow pointing to his name] 1980 — detasseling corn was my first job... i was 13 years old. $3.10/hour. i bought an Atari2600 with my summer wages.