Juan Rey

Originally from Argentina, Juan represents the fourth generation of farmers and grew up on the family farm located in the southeast of Buenos Aires province, a stone’s throw from the sandy shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Hailing from a lineage of farmers, Juan, after completing high school, chose to pursue a degree in Agronomy from the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. During his collegiate years, he began working at the phytopathology laboratory of the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), igniting his passion for research. This role paved the way for his involvement in Monsanto’s breeding program, where he contributed to enhancing germplasm for disease tolerance. It was due to the fascination of the nursery’s diverse corn phenotypes that Juan fell in love with plant breeding, captivated by the potential to select and develop new hybrids and varieties for local cultivation.

Upon earning his BS in Agronomy (Licenciado en Producción Vegetal), Juan resolved to further his education in the United States, aspiring to become a plant breeder. In 2006, he, alongside his wife and eldest son, relocated to Corvallis, Oregon, where he pursued a Master of Science in Crop Science at Oregon State University. His research there focused on barley breeding, aiming to enhance grain nutrition for human consumption.

In 2008, after obtaining his MS and undertaking a cross-country drive from Oregon to Georgia, Juan continued his academic journey with a PhD in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics at The University of Georgia. Under the mentorship of Dr. Steven Knapp and Dr. Roger Boerma, he engaged in a project utilizing interspecific hybrids of sunflower to identify salt-tolerant QTLs for integration into sunflower breeding programs.

Post-PhD, Juan joined Dow AgroSciences as a corn breeder at their West Lafayette, Indiana field station. There, he developed inbreds and hybrids spanning a broad maturity spectrum suitable for the Midwest. The 2018 merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont led to the formation of Corteva Agriscience. Following this corporate unification, Juan transitioned to a corn breeding role in Michigan, focusing on early-maturity corn—a segment full of unique challenges and opportunities. His responsibilities include crafting early-maturity inbreds and hybrids that, beyond yield, exhibit tolerance to foliar diseases and ear molds prevalent in the eastern corn belt of the U.S. Additionally, he is involved in groundbreaking projects like the reduced stature corn, which holds the promise of revolutionizing corn production worldwide.