Optimistic

Bob Kleinschmit (Corn Product Manager)

What a difference a year can make.  Twelve months ago, planting was going full speed across the corn belt.  Today, there is only limited planting in the southern parts of our sales area and our northern areas have a blanket of snow.  We are all anxiously awaiting the right moment to start planting and anticipating what 2013 has in store.  Whether you are a pessimist or an optimist, I think 2013 will be a year we will talk about well into the future.

At Producers Hybrids, we have lots of great things to talk about.  Our winter production is beginning to come back in a timely manner.  Everything should be here in plenty of time for planting.   We have a good supply of seed in most maturities and we have a great seed production plan in place for next year.  Whether you are concerned about the great drought of 2013 or believe this year will be a bumper crop, Producers Hybrids has the corn and soybean products that will perform on your farm.  We can provide the products with the right mix of disease tolerance, stress tolerance and yield potential to handle whatever comes your way.  Talk to any of our sales representatives about which products will work best for you and your farming practices.

This year we started a new plot program modeled after our highly successful NET program.  The “Premier Product Performance” or P3 trials goal is to have predetermined plot sets that will give our DSMs and Dealers replicated plot locations to go to for product training, observation and yield data.  These are available for corn and soybeans.  The P3 trials have our lead products, new products and competitor checks.   I think the P3 trials will be a great addition to our testing program.  Watch your mail for tour dates or talk to your DSM or agronomist.  There is at least one near you.

There are many exciting things going on at Producers Hybrids.  I am optimistic about this coming year and look forward to watching the new products and trait combinations work on your farm.  Thank you for being valued customers and have a safe and prosperous year.

Soybean Update

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

I am fortunate to have a dual role within Producers Hybrids, working both as the Soybean Product Manager and as Regional Agronomist for Eastern Nebraska. I have worked with our soybean program since starting in 1996. 1996 saw the commercialization of Roundup Ready soybeans and their adoption grew at an extremely rapid pace.

Nearly all of the soybean acres in our sales footprint have been planted to Roundup Ready soybeans for at least the past 13 years.  During that time, growers have had several weed species become more difficult to control with glyphosate.  Marestail and Giant Ragweed are probably two of the more widespread weeds that fall into that category of “tough to control”.  A combination of factors contributed to the resistance issue, ranging from reduced application rates of glyphosate to the plants ability to be prolific seed producers.  How we got to this point is irrelevant, as long as we learn from past experiences.

Currently, there are several companies in the process of working to offer solutions to weed resistance issues. The focal point of this effort is tolerance to multiple modes of action of herbicides. Gene stacks combining growth regulators and glyphosate and/or glufosinate are the very near horizon. 2014 will likely see the launch of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready 2 Xtend Soybeans and 2015 will likely see the launch of Dow AgroScience’s Enlist Weed Control System for soybeans. Roundup Ready 2 Xtend stacks dicamba and glyphosate tolerance, giving growers two modes of action for improved weed control. A new formulation of dicamba that reduces both drift and volatility will be an integral part of the Roundup Ready 2 Xtend program. Dow’s Enlist Weed Control System stacks 2, 4-D, glyphosate and glufosinate tolerance for their multiple modes of action herbicide tolerance event. The 2, 4-D component features Colex-D Technology, a new formulation of 2, 4-D that also reduces drift and volatility. There will likely be several other herbicide tolerant stacks that will be commercialized by the end of the decade.

All of these efforts will give soybean growers more effective weed control options. Along with the launch of the herbicide trait stacks, stewardship programs will be released as well. The goals of the stewardship programs are to help soybean growers avoid potential weed resistant issues in the future. Look for more information on both of these herbicide tolerant stacks later in the growing season. Have a safe (and hopefully wet) planting season!

New Year, New Products

Bob Kleinschmit (Corn Products Manager)

After a successful sales year, Producers Hybrids is excited to start another with a number of new product offerings that will add to our strong product portfolio.

Producers is releasing 6 new corn germplasm families with very good disease tolerance and strong yield potential.  Producers is also releasing 9 new soybean varieties ranging from Group 0.3 to 4.1.

Including the 6 new corn products, Producers is offering 21 new trait combinations across its entire corn line-up.  These trait combinations include Conventional, RR, Genuity VT Double Pro RIB, Genuity VT Triple Pro, and Genuity SmartStax RIB.  We have converted most of our VT3 products to VT3Pro to  provide better protection against Corn Ear Worm and Fall Armyworm.

Producers Hybrids strives to give our customers the trait and genetic options they need to be successful on their farms.  We are proud to be part of your business.