Plenty to do in seed industry

ASHKUM – With spring not far off, there’s plenty of work to do for those in the seed industry.

ProHarvest Seeds, like other companies, is packaging seed and trying to get product shipped out. Employees are also working on new products for next year.

“We are really analyzing a lot of plot data looking at new products and putting together crop plans. It’s quite busy,” said ProHarvest President Randy Wilken during last week’s Midwest Ag Expo near Gifford.

Many are anticipating additional traits in the next year, especially for soybeans. Wilken is hopeful for Enlist beans and a bigger launch of the GTLL27 bean. According to Wilken, the company works hard to make sure it is on the cutting edge of these new products.

The folks at ProHarvest want those growers planning to use cover crops to start thinking about it during corn and soybean planting. You may want to take herbicide use into consideration or even the type of hybrid you plant, such as corn with more upright leaves. This will lead to a more successful cover crop seeding.

ProHarvest offers the Yield 365 strategy which examines fields for the entire year. Wilken suggests reviewing soil tests and yield maps to see what can be corrected for the upcoming year.

“A lot of it is kind of taking out – not so much the peaks – but eliminating the valleys you see out there. How can we bring up those low-yielding spots in fields?”

Maybe something as simple as tuning-up a planter can help greatly since seed has the highest yield potential the day it goes into the ground.

The Ashkum-based ProHarvest Seeds can be reached at 866-807-7015 or online at: www.proharvestseeds.com.