Locked & Loaded for Success
BY ROD MORAN, SOYBEAN LEADER
This growing season has offered up a bright new era for Dairyland Seed’s soybean portfolio and those growers we look to faithfully serve. Our 2021 Enlist E3® soybean lineup is in the ground, and we have been out making observations across our footprint. Based on frequent communication with our producers, five regional agronomists, sales staff, as well as Corteva Agriscience™ research, we are extremely excited and eager for the unlimited potential that lies before us. Participating in concert with our customers to help each other attain the success and profitability of each and every acre we are privileged to be trusted with. And, while this growing season is unlike any other year, current statistics look as if to present impressive potential outcomes over several of the past few growing seasons.
Recent USDA-NASS data shows we are trending to the positive side of the coin (Figure 1). Even at this early stage of the game in 2020, our soybean crop is showing promise in more ways than one, especially considering 70 percent of planted soybean acres are rated in the good-to-excellent category with near 90 percent emerged. Tack on the fact that flowering is being noted in many locations, which is perfect timing (summer solstice). This feat will allow for taking complete advantage of all potential sunlight hours we are afforded for the remaining reproductive cycle.
SOURCE: HTTPS://WWW.NASS.USDA.GOV/CHARTS_AND_MAPS/CROP_PROGRESS_&_CONDITION/2020/US_2020.PDF
The Dairyland Seed soybean portfolio for 2020-21 is only the start for what is to come in the Enlist E3® soybean trait platform in the next couple of years. It is very inspiring to know that soybean growers are eager to give this highly vetted trait platform a prominent place within their operations.
This planting season Dairyland Seed offered growers the opportunity to plant soybeans from their choice of five unique trait platforms, and it is a resounding endorsement that virtually 66 percent of our current sales are in the Enlist E3® soybean platform. This is certainly a much higher percentage than what is thought to be planted in the United States currently. Estimates nationwide suggest near 20 percent of the roughly 83.5 million acres of soybeans in 2020 are planted to the Enlist E3® platform. This puts Dairyland Seed growers well ahead of the national curve!
Additionally, not only are growers encouraged by the genetics, but they also give the impression they are putting strong confidence in the ease and efficacy of the associated approved chemistries for the Enlist Weed Control Platform. A recent survey conducted by the UW-Madison Cropping Systems Weed Science Lab indicated that of Enlist E3® soybeans intended to be utilized by growers, 81 percent and 63 percent expected to apply 2,4-D choline or glufosinate chemistries, respectively, as their post application(s) for their post-weed control option(s). In fact, 2,4-D choline chemistries receive the greatest degree of confidence for use by surveyed growers of all three different soybean trait platforms represented1.
Finally, everyone learning additional subtle distinctions in the Enlist E3® germplasm from the well over 600 research and Dairyland Seed cooperator location plots this year will help deliver even greater confidence and knowledge for the future. Couple this valuable information, with an expanding portfolio enhanced with an aggressive production plan in place, and Dairyland Seed growers will be able to lock in and shoot for the stars while succeeding in the world of production agriculture in 2020.
1. https://www.wiscweeds.info/post/enlist-e3-system-in-2020-what-we-think-applicators-should-know/