Excellence Year After Year

John Dolan (DSM, Region 6 – Missouri)

Harvest is starting to come to an end for some customers in my area and their reaction to the year has been mixed. Spring planting for the 2013 crop was delayed by weather and then turned dry for July and August. In Grundy County, MO, August was the driest on record. Yields have been variable to say the least. Water hold capacity by soil types made a big difference in 2013. This harvest brings a close to two growing seasons with difficult conditions for both corn and soybeans.

What can we learn from looking back over the past two seasons? We can pick out the varieties that worked and those that did not work. Selecting seed varieties that performed well from the past two seasons may not be the best method of variety selection. Without knowing what the weather conditions will be for the 2014 growing season, it will be difficult to select the best product. Looking back over a larger period of growing seasons to me is the best method for selecting varieties. Include yield data from less stressful years such as 2010 and 2011. Using combined yield data from a four-year period helps prescribe a hybrid that will meet or exceed your expectations.

As yield information from the completion of harvest 2013 becomes available in various advertising campaigns, it is very evident that they are only showing what worked well in 2013. If these varieties were available in previous years, be sure to look and see how they performed. The results show that most of the time the varieties that performed well in 2013 didn’t perform as well in previous years. This is where Producers Hybrids along with AgReliant Genetics has excelled. Corn products such as 7014VT3PRO and 3900 soybeans have stood the test of time and Mother Nature’s wrath. Our products have excelled year-over-year and we look forward to working with you to make sure you get the best hybrids for your farm.

Harvest 2013 – Kansas & Missouri

Kris Young (Sales Agronomist, Region 6 – Kansas & Missouri)

The 2013 corn and soybean harvest is finally winding down here in the Southern Region (Kansas and Missouri).  I think we would all agree it has been another unique year in terms of the growing season.  When we contrast the past three growing seasons, we have seen wide swings in winter and spring moisture, planting dates, in-season rainfall, timing of in-season rainfall, severity of heat and timing of heat.  As a result, corn hybrid performance can change year to year due to different growing conditions.

The growing season for 2013 started out cool and wet during the spring, which pushed back planting dates anywhere from 1-2 months later than usual.  Most growers were very hesitant about planting corn as late as mid to late May and some switched to soybeans based on the assumption that July would be hot and dry. For most of the region, July was a complete opposite of last year with cooler temperatures and above average rainfall.  Depending on planting dates and hybrid maturity, we had many 100-140 bu/ac dryland yields and some as high as 200 bu/ac.  Overall, corn yields under irrigation were very good with most field averages in the 180-210 bu/ac range.

While the milder temperatures and additional rainfall in July were positive, in general, for corn yield performance, we did have some instances where we saw the top end yield reduced due to prolonged cloudy days and cooler daytime temperatures (<80⁰F).  In high yield environments such as under irrigation, consecutive cloudy days with cooler temperatures can reduce photosynthesis within the plant causing it not to be able to move the necessary carbohydrates into the ear.  As a result, kernels at the tip of the ear begin to abort causing ears to tip back reducing corn yields.  Certain hybrids respond more negatively to this and may have significantly lower yields versus other hybrids.

The different weather pattern we saw in July brought some different diseases.  For the first time, we had Goss’s Wilt confirmed in several fields in Central Kansas.  Goss’s Wilt is a bacterial disease that overwinters in corn residue and can be detrimental to corn yields of susceptible hybrids.  The only means of controlling this disease is planting corn hybrids that are genetically tolerant to the disease.  Most companies have Goss’s Wilt ratings on their corn hybrids.  Growers that are planting corn in Goss’s Wilt areas or are planting corn-on-corn should be planting corn hybrids with very good tolerance to Goss’s Wilt.  Producers Hybrids has some of the best genetic tolerance to Goss’s Wilt in the corn industry.  Our corn hybrids in the 108-day and later have excellent Goss’s Wilt tolerance.  These products include 7013VT2RIB, 7224VT3PRIB, 7393VT2RIB, 7413VT2RIB, 7574VT3PRIB and 7623VT2RIB.

For most of the region, the mild weather of July quickly switched to very hot and dry conditions in August and early September.  This cool, wet weather followed by hot, dry weather caused many corn hybrids to get Anthracnose stalk rot during the later stages of grain fill.  This stalk rot can cause corn hybrids to prematurely shutdown, reducing corn yields and increasing stalk lodging.  Again, many hybrids reacted differently to this based on their genetic tolerance and/or their stage of growth at the time of infection.

Corn hybrid performance varied considerably across the region this year given the range in planting dates and different growing conditions.  Key corn hybrids in the region are 7013VT2RIB, 7224VT3PRIB, 7413VT2RIB, 7574VT3PRIB and 7623VT2RIB.  While all of these products had good performance this year, no single hybrid dominated plots or side-by-sides as we have occasionally seen in the past.  As a result, growers should plant a package of hybrids (minimum of three) across the farm to help manage the risk of one hybrid failing due to genetic limitations or timing of weather.

Soybean product performance was excellent across the region this year.  Key products for Kansas and Missouri include 3602NR2, 3801NR2, 3802NR2, 3900NSR2, 4101NSR2 and 4500NR2.  All of these products have good yield potential, excellent stress tolerance and good tolerance to sudden death syndrome.  Our highest yielding variety was 3801NR2 which dominated all high yield locations, especially under irrigation.

Our P3 plot program for both corn and soybeans was a success this year.  We had several locations across the region allowing us to showcase our new and key products and gather more yield comparisons of new products and against key competitors.  I want to thank all of our Premier Partners and DSMs for their time and dedication planting, signing and harvesting these plots.  We plan to further expand and improve the P3 plot system next year.

I wish you all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Harvest 2013 – Iowa

Jeff Morey (Sales Agronomist, Region 5 – Iowa)

The 2013 harvest season started off at a good pace for the first three weeks of October.  However, since then we have had a few snow events in parts of the state and heavy rains in other parts of the state. These rain and snow events have slowed harvest, as well as the dry down on corn.

Soybean yields have been exceeding most growers’ expectations.  On the early side, the 1801NR2, 2101NR2 and the new 2302NR2 have shown excellent yields in both plots and field averages. For the mid-maturity group, the 2500NR2 and the new 2702NR2 have shown great yields while under stress. And for those that don’t have any SCN pressure, the 2408R2 soybeans are producing top yields again this year. In the full season areas the 3101NR2, 3300NR2 and the new 3002NR2 have all been performing exceptionally well through this tough growing season.

Corn yields have been highly variable all across Iowa this fall.  Some growers are getting much higher yields than last year, while others not far away have experienced yields lower than last year. The list of reasons for this seems to be very long and includes things like planting conditions, date of planting, weather conditions at pollination and whether or not you caught a rain in the August/September time frame. One of the things that seems to be showing great results often this fall is the SmartStax products. Our 5898STXRIB, 6108STXRIB, 6878STXRIB and 7268STXRIB are consistently at or near the top of most plots.  After looking at some of the corn-on-corn fields this summer that didn’t have a SmartStax product on them, this is the only thing you should be planting in your corn-on-corn acres.

Take a look at the performance of all of our corn and soybean products on the website at http://www.producershybrids.com/yield-results/.  Please contact your District Sales Manager or Agronomist for more information on the best placement of these or any of our corn and soybean products.

Harvest 2013 – Western Nebraska

Scott Dugan (Sales Agronomist, Region 3 – Western Nebraska)

The 2013 growing season was truly a combination of the past four seasons that resulted in big temperature swings throughout the year and periods of too wet and/or too dry conditions. The spring (April/May) brought cool wet conditions that caused delays and forced some growers to plant into less than ideal conditions in terms of soil temps.  Parts of the region received snow May 1. June followed with hot and dry weather that was polar opposite from the spring. Then, July turned out to be an unseasonably mild month with two weeks of cloudy, rainy and misty conditions and periodic hail storms.  After that, August and September were very similar to 2012 in that they were extremely hot and accumulated some lagging GDUs.  Weather wasn’t the only obstacle growers faced: Corn rootworm larvae/beetles, Spider mites, southern rust and stalk rot appeared this year as well.

Overall performance this year has been very good.  Irrigated acres have averaged similar to last year and dryland has been up due to better moisture.  Corn rootworm larvae were heavily populated in some areas and caused major yield damage.  In these areas, the performance of our new fuller season SmartStax have been tremendous!  7268STXRIB and 6878STXRIB have shown fantastic rootworm control and even without rootworm pressures have been finishing near the top of our yield trials. Stalk and root rots are a given side effect of year we have been dealt. The cold planting conditions contributed to the root rots and the mild and wetter mid-season conditions followed by hot drier conditions contributed to the stalk rots that have been noticed this harvest.

Everything considered, the performance of our existing lineup has been great and we have new products in our pipeline that seem to be even better! The yield results in our NET trials show our new experimental products having tremendous performance and look to be great additions to our existing commercial lineup going forward.  To view any plot data visit our website and click the “Yield Results” tab.  You can sort the data to your liking or feel free to contact your local District Sales Manager for additional information.

Harvest 2013 – Minnesota

Aaron Ahrenholz (Sales Agronomist, Region 2 – Minnesota)

As I am writing this the first real snow of the year is on the ground, reminding us that winter is not far away. Some areas of the state are done with harvest, while most others can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It definitely has been a trying year, but for the most part yields this fall were good with many reports of bean yields being much higher than anticipated.

Harvest started with yields for soybeans being higher than most of us were expecting. As I looked at fields this summer, the beans didn’t have a lot of height to them as most were planted much later than normal, thus pod counts were lower. But timely late summer rains helped put some clusters of pods on top and pod fill was excellent (for what its worth, I think we will see some large seed sizes in beans this next spring), thus bringing us some nice yields. 0301R2 had another impressive year this year in the early maturity group, following up a strong performance from 2012. 1002NR2 looks to be a nice addition to our lineup in this maturity range, bringing us excellent IDC, SCN protection and good stress tolerance. 1601NR2 and 1900NR2 had an outstanding year again. These products were in the top 3 in many plots this fall. And on the later side, 2101NR2 had a nice year, bringing a solid defensive package and still able to bring big yields in the right environment.

Corn yields this fall were all over the board, with those that were fortunate enough to catch some timely rains seeing some nice yields while others that were not so fortunate seeing yields lower than normal. This year definitely proved that diversifying your portfolio of products is wise, as the timing of the heat in August had some adverse effects on hybrids depending on what stage of flowering the hybrid was at. At the time, we all wanted heat to help push the crop along as the later planting dates had us wondering if we would black layer in time. But knowing what we know now, with a much later than normal killing frost, I think we would have been better off turning the heat down at flowering and extending the time needed to reach black layer. Again, another reminder that Mother Nature is in control.

Producers Hybrids performance was good again this year, with a few new hybrids bringing added strength to our already solid lineup. On the early side, 4183VT2RIB looks to be a great addition to our lineup. It brings good emergence, flowers early for its RM, and handled the drought stress well. It also looks to have a little better drydown than 4103VT2RIB. 4938STXRIB, which will be available as 4933VT2RIB, is another new product that has looked good in plots all year long. It handled the drought stress very well this year and has been bringing big yields this fall. Couple that with good roots and stalks, and it brings a nice package on any farm. 5634VT3PRIB has had another great year this year. This product did very well in the NET trials in 2012 and looks to be as good if not better this year in the NET trials and P3 plots. It brings excellent roots and stalks, good drydown and has even topped a few plots with hybrids in it as late as 103-105RM, so it has the potential to bring big yields. Both 5898STXRIB and 6108STXRIB have followed up last year’s great performance with another solid showing this fall.

I have been very happy with the performance of both corn and soybeans this past year in our Producers Hybrids lineup. I know that all of us want to see our products on the top of every plot we are in, but unfortunately that isn’t possible. This year we have seen more variability in plots than in years past, so we need to keep in mind that we must use multi year data when we can, and again sell a diversified package to our customers. Thanks for all of your hard work that you do for Producers Hybrids.

Harvest 2013 – South Dakota

Jerry Mathis (Sales Agronomist, Region 1 – South Dakota)

After an extended planting period this spring, we are having the same thing this harvest season.  Harvest started well with some exceptional yields. Then, a snowstorm hit western South Dakota and rain showers fell on the east side of the state, which caused delays.  Harvest is now winding down and a lot of fall fertilizer is going out.

There have been some phenomenal yields for both corn and soybeans this year in South Dakota. Field averages close to 60 bu/ac on dryland beans is not unheard of this year.  Our soybean lineup appears to be very strong with 1202NR2, 1409NR2 and 1601NR2 leading the way on the early side.  The 1900NR2 and 2408R2 are yielding very well for later beans. There were some differences in planting dates where the earlier maturities moved south better than normal.  That is, if you can call this a normal year.

Corn yields have been exceptional with several products consistently coming to the top of the test plots.  Our new 85-day appears to be doing quite well on the early side, and there is strong performance on a number of products from 91 to 104-day. One of the most impressive plots had yields over 220 bu/ac with 5784VT3PRIB and 6108STXRIB with a population of 20,500 near Platte, SD.  It goes to show what timely rain and outstanding genetics are capable of!  Be sure to check out the Producers Hybrids website for yield results for test plots near you.

I would like to thank all of the cooperators who had a test plot this year.  There is more yield data to look at to help fine tune the capabilities of our hybrids and allow for better placement.  This also shows the advantage of a 3-4 hybrid approach. Adding diversity and spreading out flowering times will help minimize extreme weather events. For additional information please contact your local District Sales Manager.  Plots are continuing to be updated as information comes in, so be sure to check the yield results for new information. Be safe and good luck selling!

Harvest 2013 – Eastern Nebraska

Mark Grundmayer (Soybean Product Manager/Sales Agronomist, Region 4 – Eastern Nebraska)

Harvest 2013: It’s acting a lot like Planting 2013 in eastern Nebraska with delays, rain and snow. The good news is that yields are much higher than expected. Soybean yields started the trend with some tremendous field averages, some topping 70 bu/ac. We can thank the August rains for those yield levels. Dryland corn yields have been pretty amazing as well. Field averages of well over 200 bu/ac have been reported in many areas. Irrigated corn has done equally as well. A NET plot in Platte County averaged nearly 288 bu/ac with five hybrids yielding over 300 bu/ac.

The northeast part of the state was short of heat units, and hybrids finished slow and held some moisture. The southeast area did not have a heat unit shortage and harvest moistures were generally below 18%. The Highway 91 area was the dividing line. Our new products, both corn and soybeans, performed very well across the region. The excellent performance level across our entire lineup allows for extremely solid hybrid/variety packages. I always like to see growers plant 3-4 corn hybrids on their farms. The multiple hybrid approach gives the grower genetic diversity, as well as spreads out flowering date, which can help minimize the impact of an extreme weather event during that crucial time. Soybeans should be planted in a similar manner, with 50-60% of the grower’s acres planted to the maturity group best suited for that particular area, and splitting the remaining acres between earlier and later maturing varieties. Again, this multiple product approach spreads risk across a wider range of dates and allows for harvesting of beans at more optimal moisture levels. There are many university trials showing the yield advantage of harvest moistures above 12% versus 8%.

Our website is a great place to visit, with plot data from our entire sales area being updated regularly during harvest. You can sort by crop, state, county, District Sales Manager, etc. Contact your local DSM for any additional information you may need, or while on our website, feel free to use the Contact Us tab.

Harvest in Minnesota

Dan Olson (DSM, Region 2 – Minnesota)

Harvest is progressing very well in south central Minnesota.  We had a great start on soybeans until the rains started. Growers then switched to corn to keep moving forward with harvest. This has been a very challenging year from planting to harvest on the eastern side of my district. Like one of my dealers said about this growing season, “Turn it black and don’t look back”.

In general, the yields on area soybeans have been better than expected. Most growers were getting around 10 bu/ac better than expected with their Producers Hybrids soybeans. We are seeing great results. October 21 was the first time in a week or better that I saw a combine going on soybeans.  Let’s hope the rain stays away for a while!

Corn harvest is going well in between the rain showers. Growers have been focusing on their fields (and I don’t blame them) so I have many corn plots to get harvested still. This week we will be getting a lot of data from these plots. There are some great looking new products in these plots.

I am very excited about the Producers Hybrids corn and soybean portfolio for the upcoming year. There is still time to take advantage of the early cash discounts. All you need to do is contact your local dealer or District Sales Manager to take advantage of this opportunity. Have a safe and prosperous harvest!

Importance of Plots

Trevor Hamre (DSM, Region 2 – Minnesota)

Harvest has been slowly progressing here in the north half of Minnesota. Rain has been plentiful the last week and hasn’t slowed down yet. Yields have been all over the place, depending on if you received any rain. 2013 has definitely been a challenging year to say the least!

With plot harvest just beginning, I would like to take the time to thank the plot cooperators that we work with. This past spring was not kind to the farmer, yet a lot of them took the time to put in various plots for us when they could have been planting their own crops. By them taking the time, we can now get a good look at what is coming down the pipeline, as well as what is working best in each of the areas.

There were many different “types” of plots planted this year within Producers Hybrids.  I will just name a few. We have our “New Experimental Test (NET)” plots, which show the many different varieties coming down the pipeline. With these plots, our growers get a good look at what they might be planting 1-3 years down the road. Another type of plot we began this year is called Premier Product Performance (P3) trial plots. P3 trial plots are available in corn and soybeans and are designed to showcase our new and market-leading products for next year. Competitor products are also included in each plot to show how Producers Hybrids products stack up against the competition.

These are just a few of the different types of plots that Producers Hybrids utilizes to bring new and market leading products to the industry.  All of this would not happen without the generous help of our plot cooperators!  Thanks and have a SAFE and SUCCESSFUL harvest!

Update: Western Nebraska

Ben Schomp (DSM, Region 3 – Western Nebraska)

We are about done with bean harvest out here in central and western Nebraska. I have heard some good and some bad yield reports; in general, yields are looking to be about average. Wet corn is about done and they are starting to have trouble finding 25% moisture and above. In my area, corn dryers are running about everywhere I go.

Yields are variable depending on weather conditions. We did have a really bad wind in July that laid corn over and that corn never stood back up, which will keep yields down. As of now, we have had enough rain until we get the corn out. I want to wish everyone a safe and prosperous harvest!