3 considerations for seed selection
The 2023 season has brought an array of challenges to farmers. Drought stress, disease pressure and more obstacles have created less-than-desirable growing conditions. With seed selection on the horizon, farmers can use learnings from this season, and previous seasons, to make decisions for 2024.
Rather than solely using yield data to make decisions, John Long, retail product agronomist for Brevant® seeds, recommends adopting a holistic approach.
“Farmers are asking questions about stress emergence, fall standability, brittle snap and events that are out of their hands,” Long said. “They want to mitigate those as much as possible. While yield data is an effective tool for proving that a product is a logical fit, it is also important to make decisions driven by characteristics.”
Because there is no magic ball that can provide all the answers, it is essential that retailers work with farmers to develop a seed selection strategy. Consider these factors when talking with your customers about buying seed this fall.
Counting on Consistent Performance
Farmers can’t count on Mother Nature or prime field conditions. Weather, disease and pests can either work for or against the harvest goals of an operation. The one thing they can bank on is consistent performance from trusted products.
“Farmers don’t want a flash in the pan,” Long said. “Some products will do exceptionally well in any given environment but taper off if conditions get tough. Because of the investment farmers have in their acres, they want consistency in a product that will perform across environments and across seasons.”
Dependable performance allows farmers to fine-tune inputs — saving time and energy. Likewise, it helps your customers achieve yield goals.
Getting an Early Start
Despite seasonal challenges changing year to year, Long says, farmers continue to want to plant earlier. Early planting brings different concerns for the producer. The potential for cold, wet soils is heightened during an early planting season — negatively impacting emergence and standability.
“With an earlier planting date, farmers need products that have good stress emergence,” Long said. “Through performance stress testing, Brevant seeds is able to identify hybrids that have the strength to endure tougher environments and thrive in cooler soils.”
Performance stress testing (PST) puts seed to the test by mimicking harsh growing environments. Brevant seeds uses PST to monitor every seed that goes into the bag. This extensive testing allows for the strongest product to go to market.
Brevant seed bags in a retail shop
Keeping Fields Healthy
As tar spot and other diseases spread through the Corn Belt, Long recommends narrowing in on foliar health. Fungicides are an effective management tool during the growing season, and it’s important to select seed with solid agronomics that can protect fields from Day 1.
“We see disease in a field and look at fungicide applications,” Long said. “But farmers really need products that can handle foliar diseases, especially tar spot. They need seed with excellent agronomics that won’t buckle under the pressure of disease.”
The list of considerations when making seed decisions is endless. Each farm is unique, just as each season is different. Identifying key issues with your individual customers can be the step that accelerates their operation to the next level. Long says it’s more than looking at data and putting a high-yielding product in the field.
“I encourage retailers to look at things from a 30,000-foot view,” Long said. “Let’s look over multiple environments, multiple locations, multiple years and different weather patterns. Let’s take a broad look so we can place the right hybrid on the right acre.”
For more information on seed selection and innovative seed technology, visit Brevant.com.
™ ®Trademarks of Corteva Agriscience and its affiliated companies. © 2023 Corteva.