Latest News From Seed

AgPro Readers Name Crop Fertility Products 2019's Best New Offerings
AgPro Readers Name Crop Fertility Products 2019's Best New Offerings

Both are crop fertility products, and both fit into existing practices—no changes to farmer behavior or extra applications.

Rocket Seeds Wins AgPro Readers’ Choice New Product Award
Rocket Seeds Wins AgPro Readers’ Choice New Product Award

It’s described as “an easy button.” Launched in January of 2019, Compass Minerals brought to market Rocket Seeds, a seed treatment product for crop nutrition.

The impact of neonicotinoids on pollinators is a prime focus for the additional risk mitigation when using these products.
EPA Issues Proposed Interim Decision on Neonicotinoids, Opens Comments

The impact of neonicotinoids on pollinators is a prime focus for the additional risk mitigation when using these products.

Bayer is continuing its pilot program with outcome based pricing in 2020, with a main focus on seed as well as fungicides.
Iowa Farmer Shares Thoughts On Outcome Based Pricing

“Everyone is suspicious if the house will always win. But I don’t want to be accused of lying about my yields. And I don’t want to be audited by the input company. How will I sleep at night?”

“New” Corn and Soybean Diseases Present Seed Selection Challenges
“New” Corn and Soybean Diseases Present Seed Selection Challenges

Wet weather brought a myriad of problems in 2019. Aside from planting and harvest delays, it helped spread diseases, many of which could show up again in 2020.

USC Provides 6 Tips for Seed Treater Maintenance
USC Provides 6 Tips for Seed Treater Maintenance

Already, dealers are receiving seed shipments, and before the crunch time when planters are heading to the field, USC is encouraging seed treatment operators to ensure their machinery and systems are set up for success.

Growers will have access to hemp seed through GoodHemp at Arcadia Biosciences.
Hemp Seed Available Through Arcadia Biosciences

Farmers looking for hemp seed have a new option with Arcadia Biosciences through their new product line, GoodHemp. The company announced this is its new commercial brand for hemp seeds, transplants, flower and extracts.

David Hollinrake, president of Syngenta Seeds, LLC, recently appeared on AgriTalk Radio with host Chip Flory and shared his current thoughts on where the seed industry is and where it’s going.
David Hollinrake: Insights Into Optimizing Seed Potential

The Syngenta Seeds leader shares he sees yield gains coming on two fronts: the developments in the pipeline as well as fine-tuning agronomic management.

Seed Advisor laid the groundwork for the current testing of outcome based pricing, and seed will be a focus of the pilots (primarily in the corn belt) this year.
Three Clarifications on Bayer’s Outcome Based Pricing

“We piloted outcome based pricing in 2019, and we will continue to pilot it in 2020,” Chad Bilby says. “In this we’ll continue to gain feedback on the value farmers see.” 

Compass Minerals Expands Rocket Seeds Line to Five Products
Compass Minerals Expands Rocket Seeds Line to Five Products

Moly Shine (1-5-0; 1.5% Fe, 3% Mn, 3% Mo, 10.5% Zn) is a seed finisher containing micronutrients formulated for soybeans and pulse crops.

Augmented Reality Gives New View of Seed Treatments
Augmented Reality Gives New View of Seed Treatments

To give seed dealers and farmers a new way to look at and talk about seed treatments, the Acceleron brand has released the Virtual Root Dig app.

New Wheat Seed Treatment Seeks Registration
New Wheat Seed Treatment Seeks Registration

BioConsortia, Inc., a California-based company that creates microbial solutions for plants, recently announced plans to register a new wheat seed treatment.

Calyxt And Agtegra Report Success And Expansion For 2020
Calyxt And Agtegra Report Success And Expansion For 2020

Calyxt soybeans are a high-oleic variety, which is the first gene-edited soybean available to grow in the U.S.

Prepare for more cold weather in the Midwest with a few possibilities for snow.
More Cold Weather on the Way for #Harvest19

Meteorologist Cindy Clawson, with AgDay TV, is tracking a cold front in northern states riding in on the edge of a wetter forecast for southern states.

Seed salesman delivering seed to farmer.
How To Optimize Your Seed Discount

As you consider your seed options for 2021, you’re undoubtedly being inundated with offers from seed companies, including volume discounts, early cash discounts and financing options.

Organic harvest is showing yields will be less than 2018.
Harvest 2019: How are Organic Crops?

Wet spring weather conditions wreaked havoc on not only traditional corn and soybean acres, but their organic counterparts as well.

Seed Supplies on Track, Quality Still Somewhat Unknown
Seed Supplies on Track, Quality Still Somewhat Unknown

After a tumultuous 2019 season, all eyes are on seed companies to learn what to expect. The 2019 seed supply was weak for soybeans as a result of a challenging harvest in 2018, and farmers hope 2020 isn’t a repeat.

Understand you local elevators' deduction schedules before making sales.
Need-To-Knows Of Moisture, Quality Deductions And Long Elevator Lines

Corn is coming in wetter and with lower test weights than normal. For many farmers this might mean they don’t have the drying capacity to keep up with harvest—but does the local elevator?

Rob-See-Co Adds Chief Marketing Officer Role
Rob-See-Co Adds Chief Marketing Officer Role

Chuck Lee, a former Golden Harvest and Syngenta Seeds Head of Marketing, brings 32 years of experience to the company.

North American Headquarters
Year After Merger, BASF Has Big Plans

BASF is now one of the four largest agricultural companies in the world and its planning to introduce more than 30 new products in the next decade.

“Seed buying programs are getting more complex, there’s no doubt about it,” says Conrad Smith. “And taking product performance out of consideration—I want to know what parts of these programs are influencing seed decisions.”
How Do Purchase Programs Change Seed Decisions?

“Seed buying programs are getting more complex,” says Conrad Smith. “And taking product performance out of consideration—I want to know what parts of these programs are influencing seed decisions.”

Third Year for Mycogen’s Turn The Bag Blue & Gold Program
Third Year for Mycogen’s Turn The Bag Blue & Gold Program

FFA members work with Mycogen territory managers and retailer partners to sell corn hybrids best fit for their geographies, which are delivered in specialty branded blue and gold seed bags.

Yield10 Bioscience Expands Research License with Bayer
Yield10 Bioscience Expands Research License with Bayer

Yield10 is advancing several yield traits it has developed in crops such as canola, soybean, rice, wheat and corn.

Scouts on the Pro Farmer Crop Tour saw low yield potential in South Dakota and Ohio.
Crop Tour: South Dakota and Ohio Yields Plummet with Poor Planting

Mother Nature wreaked havoc on Ohio and South Dakota corn and soybean fields this spring. Each state’s anticipated corn yield fell by more than 20 bu. per acre compared to last year.

Watch Brands Shuffle as Mergers, Acquisitions Finalize
Watch Brands Shuffle as Mergers, Acquisitions Finalize

For Caleb Hamer, recent agriculture mega-mergers have changed how and with whom he does business.

USDA to Defer Interest Accrual on Unpaid Crop Insurance Premiums
USDA to Defer Interest Accrual on Unpaid Crop Insurance Premiums

USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) Thursday said it will defer accrual of interest for all agricultural producers’ spring 2019 crop year insurance premiums.

Gene Editing Regulation Needs Transparency
Gene Editing Regulation Needs Transparency

A group of agricultural associations are urging USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to ensure transparency in regulating gene-edited crops

Gavin Spoor
6 Acres and a Dream: First-Generation Farmer Finds Success

When Spoor turned 16 he worked for local farmers who ”taught me a lot,” he says. “And when I started at Mizzou [in 2016] I cash rented 6 acres from a friend.”

Tool Helps Farmers Create Custom Cover Crop Mixes
Tool Helps Farmers Create Custom Cover Crop Mixes

Millborn Seeds is introducing the My SeedMix App to help farmers customize their cover crop mixes.

Bayer Pulls NemaStrike for 2020, Citing Skin Irritation Concerns
Bayer Pulls NemaStrike for 2020, Citing Skin Irritation Concerns

Today German-headquartered seed and chemical giant Bayer announced it would not be selling the NemaStrike seed treatment for the 2020 season in the U.S.

European Commission Approves Agrisure Duracade
European Commission Approves Agrisure Duracade

Farmers with corn rootworm pressure will have new options to combat the pest in 2020.

Wyffels Hybrids Helps Build Homes for Veterans
Wyffels Hybrids Helps Build Homes for Veterans

Farmers who purchase Wyffels’ W5086RIB hybrids will help give back to those who served as the company will donate $2 for each unit purchased to Homes for Our Troops.

First Company Approved For Ag Spraying Via Drone In Iowa
First Company Approved For Ag Spraying Via Drone In Iowa

The company sold its first drone application system in April of 2019.

Corn Earworm Puts Cotton Growers in a Tricky Position
Corn Earworm Puts Cotton Growers in a Tricky Position

Corn earworm, known better to cotton farmers as cotton bollworm, can quickly decimate a cotton field. The pests’ repeat exposure to common Bt proteins leads to faster resistance and more problems.

Insect Resistant Crops Hit One Billion Acres Globally
Insect Resistant Crops Hit One Billion Acres Globally

Bt, Bacillus thuringensis, crops are used around the world in corn, cotton, soybean and eggplant. More than 20 nations have at least 2,471 acres of the genetically modified crops.

Will Corn Hit “Knee High” by the Fourth of July?
Will Corn Hit “Knee High” by the Fourth of July?

Everyone’s heard the old adage about corn: knee high by the Fourth of July. However, in a typical year, farmers can expect to be tasseling or near tassel by Independence Day—what’s changed?

USDA Corn Yield Estimate Still Too High
USDA Corn Yield Estimate Still Too High

It’s been a long, arduous planting season for farmers across the U.S. Many farmers are wondering what this will mean for yields, ending stocks and, consequentially, corn prices.

USDA Confirms GE Wheat Was Discovered In Washington Field
USDA Confirms GE Wheat Was Discovered In Washington Field

This past week USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed it discovered genetically engineered (GE) wheat in Washington state. It was found in an unplanted field and is resistant to glyphosate.

Syngenta to Introduce New Fungicide Seed Treatment
Syngenta to Introduce New Fungicide Seed Treatment

Farmers and retailers will have access to Syngenta’s newest fungicide seed treatment, Vayantis, for the 2020 season. It can be used in corn, soybeans, canola, oilseed rape and cereals.

Founder of Channel Bio Corp, which later sold to Monsanto, Funk is re-launching the NC+ brand for western corn, soybean and grain sorghum growers.
New Seed Brand to Enter Market in Time for 2020 Season

Founder of Channel Bio Corp, which later sold to Monsanto, Funk is re-launching the NC+ brand for western corn, soybean and grain sorghum growers.

5 Steps to Evaluate Corn and Soybean Replant
5 Steps to Evaluate Corn and Soybean Replant

As rain continues to fall across the Midwest farmers might be wondering if corn stands are strong enough to leave, or if it’s time to replant.

This little guy can't wait to get started on his first day on the job!
Ruffing It As Farmers Near The Dog Days Of Summer

Despite rain challenges, summer will eventually get here—heat and all. It can be stressful for farmers waiting for Mother Nature to allow them to plant crops, or to wait to see if what they planted will survive.

Is It Time To Swap Out Your Hybrids?
Is It Time To Swap Out Your Hybrids?

Ken Ferrie addresses changing hybrid maturities.

Rain Could Cut 3 Million Corn Acres
Rain Could Cut 3 Million Corn Acres

With more rain in the forecast and prevented plant dates looming or past for corn, farmers will likely see fewer corn acres than USDA predicted in its March prospective planting report.

What Does Cold Rain and Temperature Swings Mean for Planted Corn?
What Does Cold Rain and Temperature Swings Mean for Planted Corn?

While millions of corn acres lay unplanted, those farmers who did get in before major rain delays need to keep a close eye on those acres.

Becks Expands to Double Processing Capacity in Indiana
Becks Expands to Double Processing Capacity in Indiana

This week Beck’s Hybrids announced a $62 million expansion of its headquarters in Indiana by 2022. It will add 56 new jobs in Atlanta, Indiana.

Corn
Does “Big Ag” Control Farmers? Survey Says No

Farmers sign agreements every year to plant patented seed—a practice those outside the ag industry frequently question.

Late Planting: Can You Plant Lower Corn Populations?
Late Planting: Can You Plant Lower Corn Populations?

As planting dates for many producers are pushed into May, the soil is warming and you might wonder if that gives you flexibility in corn planting populations.

Excess Rain Could Reduce Yields 34%, Similar to Drought
Excess Rain Could Reduce Yields 34%, Similar to Drought

With each calendar day that passes you get closer and closer to having to make tough decisions: do you change crop maturity—change crops altogether?

"But I’d caution anyone from skipping a seed treatment this season—it could be a costly decision to forego treating soybeans.”
Reposition Seed Treatments As Agronomic Tools

"I’d caution anyone from skipping a seed treatment this season—it could be a costly decision to forego treating soybeans.”