Highland Soybeans

I was surprised to find a new soybean from Ohio's soybean breeding program on my scouting packet this summer.  Since I am close to Highland County, which it is named after, it was being grown for Ohio Foundation Seed at Croton, Ohio on Steritz Seed Farm 5 miles southeast of me.  That farm is on the Illinoian Glacial Till which is what our farm is located on or buried just under the Wisconsin Glacial Till Moraine.

The 2013 Ohio State Soybean performance trials and Highland produced 85.2 bushels per acre, right at the top of the trial.  I was impressed with this new bean as soon as I pulled into the driveway of that farm.  It looked as good as anything they had growing.  It is similar to the private Jacob soybean they already raise for non GMO planting.  The five acres of Jacob I had this summer did as well as anything on our farm.  They out yielded the yellow hilum food grade soybean right beside it.  They are a cross of Dr. Cooper's Stressland with a Delta Pine and Land variety.

Highland is a 3.9 maturity with white flower, light tawny or gray looking pubescence with a brown pod and black hilum.  It has great potential for my area and many other areas similar to mine west and east of me.  I plan to raise them in 2014.

"To meet the demand of conventional soybean growers in Ohio and neighboring states USDA-ARS, Wooster has released more than 30 high-yielding non-GMO soybean cultivars with improved insect and disease resistance over last 30 years and continue to develop top performing cultivars. Stressland, Apex, Croton3.9, Stalwart, Wooster, and Prohio are few of the latest releases from this program. We also released germplasm with multiple pest (e.g., Phytopthora rot and beetle) resistance to be used by public and private soybean breeders in USA.

Apart from releasing cultivars for growers and germplasms for plant breeders, we conduct research on emerging and urgent problems damaging soybeans in Ohio. We use state of the art DNA technology to pyramid multiple disease and insect resistance in high-yielding and value added (e.g., high protein) elite soybean cultivars. These soybeans with multiple pest resistance and value added traits will lead to a reduction in the use of pesticides and aid in environment friendly, sustainable and profitable production systems. Our research will also make US soybeans more competitive in international markets. On-going Research projects include varieties like Highland and other varieties bred for Ohio conditions to meet market demand."

 

It's exciting to see my tax money at work helping Ohio farmers and the population who consumes Ohio grown products.

 

What new variety will you plant in 2014?

 

Ed Winkle