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| Study field trials before buying next year’s seed |
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By LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Not that many years ago, farmers made their seed selections in January or February. But, like many retail stores showcasing plastic Christmas trees and inflatable reindeer at the beginning of October, seed companies now start marketing their hybrids as early as August, and many farmers make decisions about next year’s planting before picking season has even started.
“This decade, it’s been earlier than ever before,” said Jerry Harrington, spokesman for seed developer Pioneer.
“From August to November is the season when a lot of decisions are made. We do most of our invoicing before Dec. 31.”
Harrington said increased competition between seed suppliers, as well as increased pressure from the producers themselves, are the main reasons field tours and incentive programs are launched earlier than they were just a decade ago.
“Most growers want to know what’s going to be available. They really start focusing on that when they’re in the combines and start analyzing yields,” he said.
Jason Hoag, corn marketing manager at Dekalb, said the company tries to be in “constant dialogue” with growers about new varieties.
“We’ve heard more and more farmers tell us they make decisions based on what they see in the field during the year and at harvest,” he said.
“We’ve seen farmers who have seen weather or heat try to stress their crops during the growing season, and watched as the technology helped them through that period.
“Or, as they watch the yields roll into the combine, they make a decision of what seed they want to purchase again for next year.”
Confidence in the brand and experience in the field also help farmers make their decisions earlier than they used to, according to Hoag. “Earlier decision making really shows the farmer is confident in the genetics and the traits, and their performance as a system,” he said.
Growers today also have much more to choose from than they did just 10 years ago, considering the rapid advances in hybrid technology and ever faster turnover of new hybrids. Pioneer alone launches 40-50 new hybrids per year and markets a total of approximately 300. Harrington said the company encourages farmers to get their orders in early by offering rewards and discounts on early purchases.
“If you wait until February or so, you may have the drawback of not getting the technology you want,” he said.
“Compared to the mid-‘90s, there are so many more technologies available with the core base genetics that there are smaller numbers available for each product.”
But farmers should be cautious about ordering large amounts of brand-new hybrids before they have a proven track record from different locations and a variety of growing conditions, according to Bob Nielsen, a Purdue extension corn specialist.
“Seed companies do a lot of in-house testing before they release a new hybrid, but often these tests are done on a small-scale basis. Sometimes when you start growing these hybrids on millions of acres, it takes a year or two before you find out if it’s a superior hybrid or an average one,” he said.
Nielsen recommended growers study the results of the variety trials conducted by land-grant universities in their state to get a better idea of how some of the new hybrids perform in different weather conditions. In Indiana, Purdue carries out variety trials for corn and soybeans in 13 different locations across the state through its Crop Performance Program. The test sites cover a selection of early-, mid- and late-maturity hybrids entered into the trial by the seed companies.
The trial results are continually updated online and, due to the early harvest brought on by drought-like conditions in large parts of the state, most of the crop data for the 2007 harvest is already available. The information posted includes location of the trial, the crop tested, soil type, planting and harvest dates and the amount of fertilizer, herbicides and insecticides applied.
“The key thing is to identify a group of hybrids that seems to do well in most locations,” Nielsen said. “In an ideal world, you’d find one hybrid that wins all the trials, but that’s not going to happen, so we recommend that you try to find one that always places in the top 10-15 percent. That hybrid can probably tolerate a wide range of conditions and stresses.”
Another way of finding dependable performers is to seek out hybrids that consistently yield 5 percent above the average yield in the trials in which they were entered. Nielsen also recommended studying the results of several different trials, including those performed by the seed companies and third-party test groups, and comparing them with data from previous years’ trials.
The results from the Purdue Crop Performance Program can be viewed online at www.agry.purdue. edu/pcpp and the site also contains links to university-based variety trials in other states. |
| 10/24/2007 |
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