Brownfield Ag News teamed up with Asgrow Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield during the 2009 and 2010 growing season to share with listeners and viewers success stories from Midwestern farmers.
In 2010, as farmers were out scouting their fields for an Asgrow 5-bean pod as part of the 5-Bean Challenge, many of them were pleased to find more 3- and 4- bean pods than they have found in previous years.
Listen to interviews, see pictures and videos on this Asgrow Roundup Ready 2 Yield microsite.
According to DEKALB marketing manager Jason Hoag, DEKALB Genuity VT Triple PRO corn hybrids offer advanced insect protection designed to protect corn and provide higher yield opportunity. Hoag explains how the combination of exclusive DEKALB genetics and advanced trait technology provides farmers with a proven line of defense against corn earworm with a broad spectrum of above- and below-ground insect protection.
Blaine Schmidt is a territory manager for Monsanto in eastern Nebraska. We met Blaine on a beautiful early October morning at the Norm Kavan farm near Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska. We talked about the progression of the soybean and corn harvest, the performance of Monsanto’s trait products and what growers should be thinking about for 2011.
Doug Mertens is right at home standing among healthy DeKalb corn that is shortly to be harvested. The territory sales manager for Monsanto Asgrow/DeKalb says the stalks on these hybrids stand better because they’re part of what’s been introduced by Monsanto this year – Genuity Double PRO, Triple PRO and SmartStax – each with protection against insect pests that damage unprotected corn. “What we’re seeing is three to four kernels extra on that plant that aren’t being eaten by earworms,” says Mertens, referring to fields planted to the technology that offers insect protection. “[That is] going to add up to bushels, if you have 25,000 to 30,000 plants [per acre] out there.”
Phil Gastler was anxious to switch from a corn head to a soybean head so that he could see just how well his soybean crop was doing. “I hope my anticipation doesn’t lead to disappointment, because [the soybeans] look awfully good,” said Gastler, maneuvering the combine around end rows of corn. “Some of the early yield reports have been really good, so I hope the beans are as good as they look.” Some of that Gastler planted last spring has insect protection in the seed. “This year we tried the new [Genuity] VT Double PRO Corn, which has earworm control, and we’re very pleased with that,” said Gastler. “ That looks like a technology that’s going to pay off really good and it’s one that you can visually see and tell that it’s working right up front.”
Normally during soybean harvest, Roger Faivre gets along fine with a single grain cart serving two combines. “But with the way these soybeans are yielding,” says Faivre, “we had to add this second cart just to be able to keep the combines rolling.” That’s a good thing. “The beans are a pleasant surprise,” says Faivre, at the controls of the combine, “the yields are in the low 70s and it’s been a long time since we’ve had soybean yields like that.” He was cutting a field of Asgrow Roundup Ready soybeans and had finished his AG2430 Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield Soybeans. Once the weather and soybeans are fit, there’s not a lot of down time for Roger, who was willing to talk about the harvest as long as we could do it while the combine kept rolling. Thank goodness for a comfortable buddy seat.
Mike Butikofer plants corn and a lot of it. There’s little rotation away from corn, so much of the time rootworms do plenty of damage to Butikofer’s crop. He plants DeKalb hybrids and the availability this season of Genuity SmartStax was his opportunity to see how it would do against high rootworm pressure. “Plant health [and] standability’s huge,” reports Butikofer, referring to the difference in this year’s SmartStax compared to his severely lodged 2009 crop. “There’s just nothing lodged, we can go as fast as the combine wants to go.” So impressed is Butikofer, he did something that is rare for him. He booked next year’s corn before September ended. Next year “we will be 80 percent SmartStax.”
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