Producers have more choices/options now than ever before, and product selection can be overwhelming. A BASF agronomist offers advice on selecting seed ahead of the 2019 growing season.
The 2018 growing season was unique, to say the least. Leslie Lloyd, BASF agronomist for Credenz soybeans in Iowa, shares what we learned from this past growing season and what we can do to improve crop production in 2019.
?We certainly had an interesting year in Iowa,? Lloyd said. ?From north to south, we had all kinds of extremes. Growers had to deal with this. Our variety trials had some of the same issues, but we learned a lot about our varieties. There was a little silver lining in that we learned some things.?
Lloyd encourages growers to analyze seed characteristics, rather than seed traits. He makes this recommendation based off of information observed within recent years.
?If we look at the last two or three years of variety comparisons against trait platforms like Xtend, and LibertyLink see that the yields are very comparable. What that means is growers should be looking at the characteristics they need in the soybeans on their farms. Things like tolerance to white mold or sudden death, the things that are important to their acres,? Lloyd said.
Lloyd recognizes the amount of information growers have to sift through when it comes to seed selection. He makes mention of a BASF seed that has performed well in different environments.
?Credenz has been around, in Iowa, for about three years now. We have some varieties that will go head-to-head with anything on the market. We know a lot more about placement of those varieties than we did two to three years ago when we started this adventure. We can offer recommendations to retailers and growers that will help them get the most out of those varieties,? Lloyd said.
