Field Days and Plots

There are plenty of field days and plots for farmers to attend now, it is the time of the year.

I attended the local Pioneer Field Day today to get a feel for what they are up to and I saw some really good plots.

Pioneer used to be number one in farmer seed but they let it slip to Monsanto with new innovation. Almost every farmer has planted RR seed and that is their trademark, their hallmark.

Today they had three sessions in my locality at Wilmington College. One speaker talked about non GMO seed and movement, one about soybean production and one about corn genetics. I am pretty critical but they were all good in my estimation.

The PhD in soybean grain movement told us there are 1.5 to two million acres of non GMO soybeans sold each year mostly to Japan or Korea. He talked about the shrouded taste test and how 93B82 was still their favorite in taste but US farmers are losing interest in the variety since it is 14 years old. It can't compete yield wise.

I felt for the soybean production speaker. He was from Illinois and had no idea about southwest Ohio conditions and had to try and tell us how to increase our soybean yields. Of course, he couldn't do it. He did show us that soybean yields have increased 1.25 bu per year in the last 25 years, a paltry total compared to corn yields. I don't have the number but corn has probably increased at least 4 times that amount in 25 years?

The big news is SDS in soybeans or the lack of it. Most of the midwest has it.

We need to find out why and the search is on, right now.

Ed