What's hot in plots
Crop Tour '99
By Tom Button
Going on a crop tour used to mean slipping away from the farm for the afternoon, cranking down the pickup's windows, and checking out what all the neighbours are up to. Now, it can be the most important work of the year.In our crop tour feature you can read about the new inputs and genetics that are in the plots this summer; some you may want to try on the home farm next spring.
It's important to note, however, that none of the new herbicides or tankmixes have been approved by federal regulators.
As well, most of the information below has been supplied by companies that hope to make a bundle selling these products. As they get closer to market, we'll put them through tougher screening. For now, a bit of skepticism is probably healthy.
To help you find your way to the new products, we've included 1-800 numbers. Start by phoning your local dealer, who may have a strip test or know where one has been planted nearby. If you don't know the name of the dealer, call the head office.
Many companies are also displaying their new technology at the Outdoor Farm Show site in Woodstock. Some will tour growers through their Farm Show plots throughout the summer.
Also, don't forget to take another look at new technology that's been released over the last couple of years.
There's a wide range of updates and management plots, and a look at the future. Hyland Seeds, for example, will show low-phytate corn and experimental Bt's. It will also show new waxy's, compare conventional and leafy hybrids for silage, as well as compare seed treatments and inoculated versus non-inoculated soys.
New genetic traits are being included in a wider maturity range, and more companies are involved. For instance, Dekalb and Novartis are showing their first high-oil corn hybrids.
In fact, some companies are deliberating slowing down their release of new technology, recognizing that the hectic pace of introductions of late may have made it hard for growers to sort out which new products are their best options.
One example is Pioneer. "It's time to build on what we've introduced over the past couple of years," says communication manager Art Stirling.
Axiom SPRAYS
Because it has both contact and residual killing power, Axiom may be the first herbicide to let corn and soybean no-tillers get their burndown and their in-crop weed control from the same herbicide.That's just one of the uses Bayer will be demonstrating with its new herbicide, a pre-formulated wettable granule that's a blend of two active ingredients from two different resistance groups: flufenacet (Group 15) and metribuzin (Group V).
Metribuzin is the active in the soybean herbicides Sencor and Lexone, but is present at too low a rate to hurt the corn. (In fact, corn is relatively tolerant to Sencor. Bayer has a rarely used label for spraying on approved hybrids.) The company says crop safety with Axiom is excellent. Since it could be used on soys as well as corn, growers could spray pre-plant without worrying about weather keeping them out of the field too late to plant corn. They could simply switch the field to soybeans without danger of crop injury. Strip-croppers could use Axiom for one-program control.
Axiom could be sprayed ppi, surface pre-plant, or pre-emerge in corn and soybeans. Corn growers could also apply it early post-emerge to the two-leaf stage of the crop.
Axiom kills broadleaf and grass weeds. Grasses include foxtails, crabgrass, barnyard grass and witchgrass, and the company says fall panicum control is top notch. The broadleaf list includes lamb's-quarters, pigweed and ragweed among others.
In-crop tankmixes for specific weed and cropping scenarios include atrazine, Banvel and Marksman for corn, and Sencor, Pursuit and linuron for soybeans. Dupont is demonstrating an Elim tankmix for corn. In both corn and soys, Axiom could also be tankmixed with Roundup or Touchdown if the burndown must tackle perennials, not just annuals.
The company says Axiom's residual control lasts through the main weed germination season. Small annuals are killed on contact. Then Axiom needs about a half inch of rain to start its soil activity.
Test plot info: Bayer: 1-800-268-1331Converge - corn
Converge brings grass and broadleaf control in a single package that Rhone Poulenc says will prove much more consistent than traditional pre-emerge sprays.Converge is a pre-pack featuring three-quarters to a pound of atrazine per acre together with isoxazole, the active ingredient in Balance, the new U.S. herbicide that kills a broad spectrum of annual grasses and broadleaf weeds.
The weed list for isoxazole includes green and giant foxtails, crabgrass, fall panicum and proso millet, as well as velvetleaf, nightshade, pigweed, ragweed and lamb's-quarters. The spray is also effective against the seedling stages of dandelion and plantain. The atrazine helps out with smartweed and bindweed, and sharpens control of yellow foxtail. Converge would be sprayed pre-plant or pre-emerge. The only tankmix would be with glyphosate for a no-till burndown. Converge has enough contact activity to sharpen the burndown.
Like other soil-applied sprays, Converge needs rainfall for activation, but it gets extra consistency because of its root uptake and its ability to take down weeds that emerge before the rain arrives - some as large as fifth leaf. The company says that in its Ontario tests, Converge has given 20 per cent better weed control than traditional pre-emerge sprays in a dry spring.
The company says residual control lasts season-long, and that crop safety is very good.
Test plot info: Rhone Poulenc will be touring corn growers through over 80 research and demonstration sites this summer. The company will mail out invitations, or growers can call 1-800-891-8291.Summit - corn
Here's a first - a broadleaf spray for corn that provides effective post-emerge quackgrass control. Novartis hopes to start sales next spring.Summit is a pre-formulated wettable granule with a low rate of dicamba plus the new Group II active ingredient called primisulfuron methyl. Summit could be sprayed from the two to the seven leaf stage of the crop. At first, there won't be any tank-mixes for annual grass control.
Instead, Summit would be recommended in a sequential treatment following Dual or Primextra. While Summit won't be registered for annual grasses, the spray will back up its quackgrass control with enough activity on annual species to sharpen the control of other grass killers.
Crop safety is said to be excellent. The company says pricing will be low enough for the sequential program with Dual or Primextra to be competitive.
The company says it expects Summit to be especially attractive to two kinds of growers. They include growers who have quackgrass that they want to clean up, but want to eliminate their annual grasses earlier in the season. They also include growers looking for a cost effective in-crop quackgrass spray with excellent crop safety.
Test plot info: Novartis: 1-800-459-2422
Distinct - corn TANKMIXES
BASF is showing new tankmixes and new uses for its Distinct herbicide, introduced this spring. Distinct is a preformulated mix of dicamba (the active ingredient in Banvel) and diflufenzopyr that's registered for broadleaf control in corn at the two- to six-leaf stage. At the two- to three- leaf stage it can be tankmixed with Frontier for grass control. New in the plots are tankmixes with Dupont's Ultim in the three - to four- leaf stage and its Accent for the four- to eight-leaf stage of the crop.Both are being tested with and without atrazine. BASF is also showing late applications of Distinct in the six- to eight-leaf stage. As well, growers will be able to check out its control of broadleaf perennials including sowthistle, prickly lettuce and dandelion when sprayed in the three- to six-leaf stage of the crop. They'll also see Distinct's grass control.
Test plot info: BASF: 1-800-565-8261, Dupont: 1-800-667-3925Elim - corn
The post-emerge grass killer Elim is being tankmixed with Dual II and Axiom in Dupont -plots at Woodstock and Thamesville. The tankmixes would let corn growers delay spraying their residual control grass early post without worrying that any emerged weeds - would escape.The effectiveness of Dual, for instance, drops off once the grasses pass the two-leaf stage. Tankmixing with Elim, Dupont says, would kill those emerged weeds, allowing growers to extend their residual control further into the season. Cost of the low Elim rate would be about $12.30 per acre.
Test plot info: Dupont: 1-800-667-3925Soy SU's
Dupont is demonstrating a range of Assure II and low-rate Pursuit tankmixes for its sulfonyl urea broadleaf killers Classic and Pinnacle, as well as combinations with Zeneca's Reflex herbicide.Classic and Pinnacle are SU post-emerge soy herbicides, each with its own particular strengths. Classic is hot on milkweed and sowthistle. Pinnacle is exceptional against lamb's-quarters.
Both, however, also share a poor rating for nightshade. Now, Dupont is showing a 42 ml per acre rate of Pursuit tankmixed with either Classic or Pinnacle to provide that residual nightshade control. That's one-third the normal Pursuit rate. The company is also showing tankmixes with its Assure II for grass control.
At the same time, Dupont is showing new tankmixes based on Reflex and Pinnacle. Reflex is very strong on ragweed. On display will be tankmixes with Pursuit for control of annual grasses and nightshade, or with Assure II for grasses.
Test plot info: Dupont: 1-800-667-3925, Zeneca: 1-800-263-8308
Supercede - corn NEW FOR CORN
Dow Agro is touting its Supercede line of corn genetics as "nutritionally enhanced." The corn made a big splash through the U.S. Midwest this spring.Now, Ontario corn growers and pork and poultry producers can get an upclose look.
Mycogen is demonstrating its single-cross hybrid 2654 in plots. It's a 3150 heat unit hybrid that packs the Supercede system's four feed bonus traits. It's high-oil, high-protein, high-methionine and high-lysine.
Dow says its Supercede hybrids will average 10 per cent protein, compared to 8.9 per cent for standard #2 yellow corn. Oil is 5.5 per cent with Supercede, compared to the ordinary 3.92. Lysine is 0.349 per cent, up from 0.287, and methionine is 0.230, up from 0.207. Actual nutrient levels depend on environmental conditions.
Mycogen says it expects to sell the hybrid for planting next spring. Most seed will go to growers who can keep the crop segregated for on-farm feeding.
The company expects, however, that feed mills will quickly offer contracts for identity-preserved Supercede production. In the U.S., for instance, Ag Processing at Omaha is offering premiums of 22 to 30 cents per bushel.
Test plot info: Mycogen: 1-800-265-5289New Bt's
The evolution of Bt corn continues. Most seed companies appear to be displaying Bt genetics in a wider choice of hybrids.New this year, however, are more hybrids that stack the Bt gene with other traits. Dekalb, for instance, will show a hybrid with Roundup Ready plus Bt. Mycogen and Novartis are showing Bt in an Imi-Smart hybrid. Several are showing Bt in leafy and other silage corn.
At the same time, AgrEvo is working with Zeneca to introduce its new StarLink Bt gene in Garst hybrids. While still using Bt genetics, StarLink produces a different protein and may have a role to play in preventing corn borer resistance.
Even more interesting than the hybrids this year may be the marketing programs that companies will unveil to get more growers paying the Bt premiums for their seed.
Liberty + Dual/Primextra
Novartis is showing tank-mixes of Liberty with its Primextra II Magnum for a new post-emerge combination of burndown and residual weed control.The mix could be sprayed to the fifth-leaf stage. The Liberty, with a bit of help from the metolachlor and atrazine in Primextra, would burn off emerged weeds. The Primextra would then hang around for season long control of annual grasses and broadleaf weeds.
The tankmix could only be applied to hybrids carrying the Liberty Link gene. Non-resistant hybrids would be killed.
The company hopes to launch the tankmix as a twin-pack next year with standard Primextra rates and the low rate of Liberty. The company also says it expects to use special program pricing to keep costs competitive.
At the same time, Novartis is also seeking a wider application window for Primextra and its other metolachlor products, Dual II and Dual II Magnum. The herbicides could be sprayed to the fifth leaf stage of the crop, up from the current two-leaf limit.
Weeds, however, can't be any bigger than two-leaf. The company says the wider window will give growers more flexibility in timing their spray program in seasons where the crop is ahead of the weeds.
Test plot info: Novartis: 1-800-459-2422Roundup Ready
Monsanto is testing a range of tank mixes to add residual control to its Roundup Ready corn program. Included are mixes with Frontier and Dual for grasses, and Banvel, Marksman and atrazine for broadleaf weeds. Monsanto will also be demonstrating the use of Roundup to tackle hard-to-control weeds including milkweed, nutsedge, wirestem muhly and hemp dogbane.Dekalb will also be showing seven new Roundup Ready hybrids, including one stacked with Bt genetics. The earliest hybrid will be 2600 heat units.
Test plot info: Monsanto: 1-800-667-4944, Dekalb: 1-519-352-5310
Liberty Link NEW FOR SOYS
First Line is demonstrating Ontario's first Liberty Link soybean variety, a 3200 heat unit variety bred by Asgrow that may be available next year.Much depends on whether the genetics gets regulatory approval. Already cleared in the U.S. and Japan, the Liberty Link gene in soybeans has passed environmental tests in Canada. Approvals for food and feed uses are expected by harvest.
It's unclear, however, when European approval might be granted, although EU countries have already approved the same gene in corn. Until the EU situation is clarified, AgrEvo says it will keep the varieties off the U.S. market. There haven't been any announcements yet regarding Canada.
AgrEvo expects Liberty Link to get off to a slower start in soybeans than in corn, where the gene hitched a ride with some versions of the Bt trait.
In soybeans, breeders must specifically target the gene. First Line will also show some research plots with Liberty Link varieties with maturities as short as 2600 heat units. These varieties are at least one more year away from commercialization.
Liberty is a broad spectrum non-selective herbicide that will kill most emerged annuals, including volunteer RR corn.
Test plot info: AgrEvo: 1-800-667-5959; First Line: 1-800-361-2326
Touchdown RR
Soybean growers may be able to spray their Roundup Ready varieties next spring with Touchdown, Zeneca's glyphosate variant. Also new could be Touchdown tankmixes with Fusilade and Reflex.Monsanto and Zeneca have signed international agreements giving Zeneca approval to add Roundup Ready soybeans to their Touchdown label. Monsanto would still collect its technology use fee, roughly $12 per acre depending on seeding rate.
The tankmix with Reflex would boost control of broadleaf weeds that can be too tough for glyphosate alone, including smartweed, velvetleaf and flower-of-an-hour. The Fusilade tankmix would let soybean growers clean volunteer Roundup Ready corn out of their crops.
Zeneca will also be demonstrating Touchdown for pre-harvest weed control in soybeans and edible beans. Tours will focus on knowing when to opt for Touchdown and when to choose the faster acting Reglone desiccant.
Test plot info: Zeneca: 1-800-263-8308Reliance-STS
New varieties and new tankmixes are in the plots this summer to add more versatility to the Reliance herbicide resistance package.STS stands for sulfonyl urea tolerant soybeans. All soybeans can be sprayed with the sulfonyl urea herbicides Classic and Pinnacle. When the two weed killers are sprayed together at rates high enough for broad spectrum weed control, however, crops can be hurt.
Soybeans bred with the STS are much safer, so they can be sprayed with Reliance, a blend with higher doses of the active ingredients of Classic and Pinnacle.
This spring, First Line introduced 3001S, a 3025 heat unit variety with the STS gene. Now, the company will display varieties down to 2750 heat units.
Reliance maker Dupont is also demonstrating two new tankmixes. The company will spray Reliance with Assure II added for grass control, plus Reliance and Assure II with a one-third rate of Pursuit to provide residual control of nightshade, the broadleaf that's often first to break through Reliance alone.
Test plot info: First Line: 1-800-361-2326, Dupont: 1-800-667-3925
© copyright 1999 Agricultural Publishing Company Limited.
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Bt corn makes good insurance
But new research shows borer-resistant hybrids will not pay every yearBY TOM BUTTON
Don't bet on Bt genetics for a healthier bottom line every year, suggests a ground-breaking study on growing the borer-resistant hybrids in Ontario. Most growers will get enough extra bushels to pay for their seed premium just one year in three."You have to look at Bt as an insurance policy," says Tracy Baute, University of Guelph researcher hired through a Novartis grant to study Bt corn. "You won't get a return on investment unless there's heavy corn borer pressure."
Ontario corn growers have planted 700,000 acres of Bt hybrids this spring. That's one-third of the crop, says OMAFRA corn specialist Greg Stewart.
The cost is hard to pinpoint. On average, seed premiums work out to $10 to $14 per acre, depending on seeding rate and the deal offered by specific companies. So seed companies are likely earning $8 to $10 million extra each year from corn sales.
Since Bt is new - and most Bt seed is only available in higher-priced elite and introductory hybrids - growers buying Bt can pay an additional $5 to $15 or more per acre.
Baute studied Bt hybrids versus their non-Bt twins in 40 plots across Ontario in 1996 and 1997. For comparison, the research team also planted popular conventional hybrids adapted to each area. Now, Baute has put all the results together in a report she used to earn her M.Sc. Her strongest conclusion is that Bt works. She rates its effectiveness for preventing boring damage by European corn borers at 96 per cent - "at least." Hybrids protected with Bt had fewer broken stalks and damaged ears.
They also had less ear rot and fewer mouldy kernels, Baute says. "The difference was great enough that it can make sense for a swine producer to go for Bt, whether there's a yield advantage or not."
Over the two years, Baute found the Bt hybrids outyielded their non-Bt twins by four per cent. But the yield responses were sporadic. In 1996, borer pressures in the extreme southwest were intense, and some Bt-protected hybrids gave yield hikes of 10 per cent. In central and eastern Ontario, there were few if any extra bushels. In 1997, tables turned, with little response in the southwest and big gains in the east.
Baute plugged her results into a computer, together with seed premiums ranging from $10 to $14 per acre, and corn prices of $2.25 to $3.70 per bushel, and found that growers can expect Bt to pay for itself one year in three.
"It's insurance," she repeats. "It only pays for itself if you have severe pressure." Her studies suggest a field needs an average 16 centimetres of tunneling per plant in order to pay the premium cost.
Baute's conclusions aren't out of line with tests by the seed companies.
Pioneer Hi-Bred agronomist Tim Welbanks points out that an intensive two-year research project through the northeastern corn belt has found an average 8.8 bushel per acre yield benefit with Bt hybrids. Most of the gains came in 1997, however, with little response in '98 because of low borer numbers.
In 12,000 field comparisons of Bt versus non-Bt last year, the Bt averaged a three per cent higher yield. At the same time, individual strip trials with new hybrids got yield benefits as high as 15 per cent, Welbanks says.
"The Guelph study is probably pretty realistic," Welbanks says. "As long as borer pressures are so hard to predict, you do have to look at Bt as insurance....It isn't going to pay every year."
Baute adds a warning for growers to keep an eye on the yield potential of non-Bt hybrids. While in her trials the Bt hybrids outyielded their non-Bt twins, they rarely outyielded good conventional hybrids for the area.
On the other hand, growers who plant Bt corn don't have to worry about scouting their crop to see whether there are enough borers to justify spraying.
"You have to look at your own situation," Baute says. "Just don't expect a big yield benefit every year."
© copyright 1999 Agricultural Publishing Company Limited.
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Rules stunt Roundup Ready growth
Fifty per cent of the U.S. soybean crop is RR, but Ontario growers have planted only 15 per cent of their acres with the new technologyBY TOM BUTTON
Chatham cash cropper Ralph Brodie wants nothing to do with Roundup Ready soybeans. A few miles down the road, Bob Devolder is growing Roundup Ready soys for the third straight year.Along the concession roads between them, a lot more farmers are siding with Brodie than Devolder.
Roundup Ready soybeans have struggled. Flopped is too strong a word, but Ontario's 12 to 15 per cent of soybean acres is miles behind the 50 per cent of the U.S. crop that's gone Roundup Ready and the 70 per cent in Argentina.
Brodie blames the technology use agreement (TUA), which adds $8 to the cost of a bag of seed and an average $12 per acre for growers. The TUA is Monsanto's way of ensuring it gets paid for the $4 million it spends on research every day.
More than the cost, Brodie dislikes the extra powers that the TUA gives Monsanto. As part of the agreement, growers are forbidden from saving Roundup Ready seed for planting the next year. For enforcement, the agreement gives Monsanto the right to make on-farm inspections.
"It gives [Monsanto] a wide open door," Brodie says. "I'm not going to give anybody the right to come search my place whenever they want." Besides, Brodie says, he's concerned about relying on Roundup for in-crop weed control. Roundup has no residual power, he points out. Weeds that come up after the spray won't be controlled. He'd rather rely on conventional residual herbicides, and notes that some have come down in price to meet the Roundup competition.
For Devolder, by contrast, there's no doubt that Roundup Ready is more economic and more effective for weed control. "It controls everything," Devolder says. Plus, the lack of residual power is a bonus, he says, since the chemical won't interfere with high-value rotational options for the next year, such as tomatoes or sugar beets.
Devolder also sells Roundup Ready seed from First Line Seeds, where company communications manager Gary Lannin says the company has sold out of seed for early-maturity Roundup Ready varieties, but not for full-season lines.
Part of the blame goes to poor soybean prices, which led many growers to cut costs and plant bin-run seed.
While uptake has been slower than anticipated, Lannin says the company still predicts a big jump in future acres. Next year, Roundup Ready could account for half of Ontario's soybean crop. "There's a good opportunity for that."
Lannin agrees the TUA is a hurdle for many potential growers: "If you put the Roundup weed control packaged in a jug for $25 an acre, it would have taken off. When you do it $10 an acre for herbicide and $15 for seed, it's just different."
Jim Inksetter, eastern Canada manager for Monsanto, says Ontario farmers are actually adopting Roundup Ready faster than in the U.S., where it accounted for 13 per cent of the acres in the second crop year it was planted. He says that in the Ottawa Valley, Roundup Ready is 30 per cent of the crop.
Inksetter is predicting fast growth as growers see more test results and economic comparisons. He says the company is also looking for ways to make its TUA more "user friendly."
To help growers accept the TUA concept, Monsanto launched a guarantee program for growers planting side-by-side plots of Roundup Ready and conventional seed. If the Roundup Ready plot doesn't produce a better bottom line, the company says, it will refund the difference up to the cost of the TUA.
First Line will keep bringing more Roundup Ready varieties to market. So will other companies, including Novartis and Hyland, which will show five new varieties in its plots this summer.
Devolder says 80 per cent of his soybean seed sales were Roundup Ready, with buyers falling into two categories. Those who have tried Roundup Ready before - often to clean up a tough field - were lined up to buy more, frequently to plant the farm's whole soybean crop. For first-timers, Devolder went through one-on-one worksheets to calculate the effect on net per-acre income.
"The TUA is an issue on every sale," Devolder says. "You can explain it all you want...nobody likes it." Devolder predicts bigger sales over the next few years. Today's buyers tend to be progressive growers, he says. Watchful neighbours will climb on board. Plus, more on-farm tests will prove that new Roundup Ready varieties yield as much or more than conventional seed.
It will be quite a while, however, before Devolder sells a bag to Brodie, who is hoping that farmers who hire his custom combine services steer clear of the Roundup technology. "I don't have the time to take half a day tearing apart my combine and cleaning it out between fields to get rid of the [genetically modified] beans," Brodie says.
"Roundup Ready isn't the be-all and end-all,. There are too many rules."
© copyright 1999 Agricultural Publishing Company Limited.
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