It's that time of year! The time to start hunting for corn seed for 2019.

American Agriculturist asked top seed companies for their "top 5" corn and silage hybrids for 2019 geared toward Northeast and Mid-Atlantic farmers. This is the first part of our list. The second part will be released next month.

Six seed companies responded to our request for top corn seed hybrids for this issue. For readability, RM stands for relative maturity.

Get in touch with your local seed dealer if you have any questions about a variety, or email American Agriculturist at [email protected].

Partners Brand Seed
• PB 5630: An 86-day hybrid with great agronomics and solid, consistent yields on any soils. It has great late-season intactness and comes in both traited and conventional packages

• PB 6003: A 90-day hybrid with good plant health and fantastic top-end potential, this variety is a big plant type that can be a really early silage. It works best on medium- to better-quality soils, and also comes in a traited and conventional package

• PB 6358: A 93-day hybrid that can work on any soil type with great roots and stalks. It can be a good dual-purpose hybrid with a semi-flex ear that offers both traited and conventional packages.

• PB 7672: A 106-day hybrid that has a big plant type with great agronomics and handles stress well. A full-flex ear and silage plant type gives it great versatility across any soils, outstanding yield potential, and both traited and conventional options.

• PB 8118: A 111-day waxy corn hybrid that offers good feed quality for grain, high moisture and silage. It has solid stalks and roots, which allows it to handle variable soils. It is a semi-flex ear plant that is only offered as a conventional variety.

Local Seed Co.
• LC9278 SSXRIB: A 92-day RM dual-purpose release with excellent emergence. It is well-adapted to the variable soils of New England, New York and the northern tier of Pennsylvania. It is available as conventional and SmartStax RIB Complete.

• LC9888 VT2PRIB: A tall, showy plant at 98-day RM that has true grain or silage performance. Management investment provides returns with this hybrid for the producer trying to get the extra bushel or ton. Available as a conventional for the first time this year, building off of a solid VT Double Pro RIB Complete release.

• LC0488 SSXRIB: New release available as conventional, VT Double Pro RIB Complete or SmartStax RIB Complete at 104-day RM. This hybrid has solid potential throughout the Mid-Atlantic with good standability and heavy test weight.

• LC1289 VT2PRIB: This has a 112-day RM high grain performance potential. It is a new grain offering that edges out the competition early in the season. VT Double Pro RIB Complete shows best on better- to high-performing soils.

• LC1487 PC: New genetics with a brawny look and yield. This 114-day RM conventional and Powercore trait offering provides the latest in aboveground insect control. Dual-purpose plant with a solid disease package delivers a must try for the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

King's Agriseeds
• MC 4050: A popular 90-day variety that is known for superb silage quality while offering high yield. It fits well into aggressively managed operations and has an upright leaf structure. This hybrid also performs well as an early hybrid in longer-season areas.

• MC 5250: A top-selling 102-day silage hybrid that is favored among silage producers, MC 5250 is a white cob hybrid that has wide, showy leaves. Its outstanding health and agronomic package leaves it green to the end of the season. It is known for consistent yields and adaptation to varying soils.

• MC 5370: A 103-day hybrid, this is a steady producer and has great digestibility. Its excellent stalks and good roots make it drought-tolerant, which has allowed it to excel on shallow and shale soils. It is a taller hybrid with competitive yields for silage or grain.

• KF58C80: A quick canopy closer with strong stalks and roots with flexible ears. It offers stress tolerance and a very good overall plant health package. It is a 108-day variety that has excellent emergence and seedling vigor.

• MC 6360: A 113-day hybrid, MC 6360 combines full-season agronomics and quality. It has great stress tolerance and yield potential, and is versatile across the Northeast. As a silage hybrid, it is said to feed better than anything else in the full-season lineup.

LG Seeds
• LG5505: A 100-day RM "long ear" style hybrid that furnishes top-end yields of excellent test weight grain. With an outstanding health package and disease protection, this is a great dual-purpose option for grain or silage.

• LG5525: A 105-day RM hybrid widely adapted across areas with outstanding yield potential, excellent test weight and hard endosperm grain. This product is approved as food-grade corn in some markets.

• LG59C66: A 109-day RM hybrid that has a showy, robust plant with top-notch leaf disease tolerance and superior stress tolerance. It has excellent test-weight grain and very high top-end yields.

• LG62C02: New for 2018, this 112-day RM hybrid shows strong performance, early emergence, superior stalk health and fall intactness. This product adapts well to minimum-till and no-till situations.

• LG5643: This 114-day RM hybrid is widely adapted across soil types and is an excellent choice for continuous corn situations. This product features top-end yields from long, girthy ears and taller plants that stand well with very good greensnap tolerance.

Agrigold
• A635-54: A 105-day RM choice hybrid for no-till and continuous corn systems with excellent yield potential. Good ear flex, roots and stalk strength allow for broad adaptation.

• A639-40: A wide adaptability to most soil types, tillage and cropping systems along with its strong leaf disease package with Northern corn leaf blight tolerance. This 109-day RM hybrid provides outstanding yield potential under high-management systems. A great dual-purpose option for grain or silage.

• A6499: A versatile 112-day RM hybrid with excellent emergence adapted to all production systems. This medium-short product shows good yield stability in high-stress environments as well as great grain quality and test weight across the board.

• A642-59: Consistently preforming 112-day RM hybrid with high yield potential, excellent test weight and grain quality that adapts to variable soil types and environments.

• A6572: A 114-day RM hybrid with very good stay-green and late-season plant intactness in addition to very good test weight and grain quality.

Croplan
• Croplan 4020VT2/RIB: A 98-day variety with good emergence and seeding vigor. A great dual-purpose option with above-average drought tolerance.

• Croplan 4997VT2/RIB: A new 109-day hybrid with above-average stalks, roots and stay-green potential. Broadly adapted to multiple soil types and yield environments.

• Croplan 5290DGVT2/RIB: A 112-day variety with a long, slender ear for good tip fill. Responds well to medium and high plant populations. Excellent test weight and dual-purpose option but must harvest early.

• Croplan 6110VT2/RIB: A 110-day variety, this is a great workhorse hybrid with consistent yields. Best-suited for moderate- to low-yield environments. It has good roots and is best positioned in moderate plant populations. It also has good drought and heat stress tolerance.

• Croplan 5678VT2/RIB: A 116-day rock star, this is a dual-purpose hybrid with solid stress tolerance and excellent performance across multiple yield environments and soil types. Solid disease package for continuous corn and above-average test weight.