View from the Cab: Looking to the future
It’s always exciting to hear about future technology available to farmers.
I had the chance to attend a VIP field day at the Corteva Agriscience research facility near Champaign last week, hearing all about the latest in seed and chemicals. The plots were very impressive along with the massive indoor space used for research.
Plant breeding is underway to bring Enlist soybeans to the marketplace. The Enlist weed control system involves a trait in corn, soybeans and cotton. The E3 trait, which has been approved for soybeans, includes a mix of Roundup, Liberty and 2,4-D to help fight our ongoing weed problem.
Two core chemical products will be utilized – including Enlist One and Enlist Duo, which adds a glyphosate component. Controlling weeds in today’s environment is a systems approach.
Growers should start clean with a tillage pass or burndown application in the spring and apply soil residuals at the full rates. Enlist can be sprayed through the R2 stage and the application window has been extended another 14 days. Producers get one burndown and two in-crop trips with Enlist.
Colex-D technology has been added to the Enlist chemical system for drift control. The E3 system is considered simple since non-Enlist soybeans are not a susceptible crop and will not be impacted by this. There are a few label restrictions, such as not applying it if the wind is blowing toward sensitive crops such as tomatoes, grapes and tobacco. Coverage will be key when applying Enlist.
Pioneer is growing quite a few seed beans currently and the company is expected to have a large volume of Enlist soybeans on hand for the future.
Those of us attending the field day also learned about several Pioneer commercial products such as QROME. These seed treatments can help prevent root damage and the traits work regardless of the weather. A next generation corn rootworm trait is expected in the next few years. This non-BT trait will help with another mode of action, according to a company research scientist.
QROME technology is expected to lead to higher yields as it includes better genetic diversity. This utilizes the same traits as Pioneer AMXT. Corteva says a “corn revolution” is coming.
(The View from the Cab is powered each week by Petersen Motors of Fairbury)