Tag Archives: corn hybrids

EventsLatham Customers “Hang Loose” in Hawaii

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While it sounds so cliché, time sure does fly when you’re having fun! It’s hard to believe that already one week has passed since we boarded a plane for Maui, Hawaii. Thursday, Feb. 9, was a travel day. Upon arrival in Lahaina, we dipped our toes in the Pacific Ocean and walked along the volcanic sand beach. Then we enjoyed an oceanview dinner while watching whales flip and spout near the shoreline.

The next morning we boarded a charter bus tour for a tour of Monsanto’s production and research facility in Kihei. It was interesting to learn about the key role Hawaii’s seed crops play in the development of new corn hybrids. Because farm fields in Maui can produce up to four crops each calendar year, a new hybrid can be developed in about half the time it would take if a seed company relied solely on growing conditions found on the continental U.S.

Saturday was a “free day,” so many group members enjoyed an all-day trip along the Road to Hana while others chose to go whale watching or snorkeling. Some even rented Harley’s and biked around the island. My family and I chose to board an Atlantis submarine that took us below the ocean to a depth of 127 feet where we viewed white-tipped reef sharks, Hawaiian green sea turtles and hundreds of tropical fish. (NOTE: I really enjoyed this submarine tour. It provided the same views as scuba diving without the pain of not being able to clear my ears.)

Sunday morning we met in the hotel lobby at 2:15 a.m. (6:15 a.m. CST) to take a long, winding, 38-mile bus ride to Haleakala National Park. The road we traveled is one of the world’s steepest, going from near sea level to the 10,023 summit. We finally arrived inside the park where we viewed an amazing sunrise. No wonder Haleakala means “house of the sun” in Hawaiian. It truly looked as though you could step off the crater and onto a cloud.

Forty members of our group enjoyed biking (more like “braking”) down from the base of Haleakala National Park to headquarters of the Haleakalah Bike Company. “The original Freestyle Haleakala Downhill” included a 3,000-foot drop in 10 miles, curving around 29 switch backs. It was after noon when many bikers returned to the hotel, where they enjoyed the afternoon and evening on their own.

Monday was another “free day.” My family chose to snorkel Molokini Crater. It was fab-u-lous! This tour truly lived up to its ad: Snorkel a beautiful reef teeming with colorful marine life and experience one of the best whale watch’s on Maui. Enjoy a freshly prepared BBQ lunch served hot off the grill. After lunch, we cruised to Turtle Town where our son had the experience of a lifetime. He came face-to-face with two Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles and snapped, what we hope will be, a blue-ribbon winning photo at this summer’s Franklin County Fair. As we headed toward shore, we saw many Humpback whales and had the pleasure of watching a calf breach.

Monday evening our entire group enjoyed a luau including a Hawaii-style pig roast, where a large pit was dug into the ground and lined with banana leaves. Hot lava rocks were placed into the pit, and then a seasoned pig was placed inside and covered with additional banana leaves. The food was good, but I believe the cultural dances were even better. The fire dancing finale was captivating (and in my humble opinion) any video can’t do it justice.

After spending five nights and six days in a tropical paradise – plus enduring 16 straight hours of travel – yesterday afternoon we returned home. Now it’s back to reality… and back to work! I’m working on a blog for tomorrow that will feature a couple of tasty Hawaiian recipes, including one from Maui Gold Pineapple.

Industry NewsTechnology Redefines Agriculture

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What defines modern agriculture?

It’s a question that I’ve been pondering ever since reading an article Jan. 19 by Terence Loose listing “agriculture” as the most useless college major. More than anything, I believe his article illustrates how little the general public knows about production agriculture. I dare say Loose envisions farming more like it was in the 1950s or 1960s than it is today.

Agriculture has changed dramatically over the years, and it’s become even more technologically advanced in the past 5 to 10 years alone. In fact, agriculture is like lot the car industry. One used to have to custom order power windows. Today power windows come standard on new vehicles just like most technology comes standard today on agricultural products.

Technological advancements in the seed industry is just one example. One hundred percent of Latham® Hi-Tech Soybean seed is traited, and about 95% of the corn hybrids we sell contain technologies that make crops resistant to insects or certain chemicals.

High-tech seeds means there’s a lot of science in each bag! Think about the highly educated and skilled people it takes to research and create new technologies and genetics, develop them for commercial production, condition the seeds, and then sell them to the farmers, who produce food, clothing and fuel for the world.

New seed technologies – have and will continue to – set new expectations for the yields farmers can achieve. When Roundup® Ready soybeans were introduced in 1996, they set the standard for soybean yields for a decade. Today Latham® soybeans with the Genuity® Roundup Ready® 2 Yield technology are redefining yield expectations. Latham soybeans with the RR2 trait have been out-yielding the competition consistently for the past two harvest seasons. Soon Vistive® Gold soybeans will produce an oil similar to the content of olive oil but much easier and cheaper to produce.

On the corn side of our business, technology is progressing at an equally fast pace. Innovations are making it even simpler to comply with refuge requirements. New for 2012 Latham has introduced Genuity VT2 PRO RIB Complete, as well as Genuity® SmartStax® RIB Complete. Other new technologies coming include a new rootworm trait from Syngenta called Agrisure® Duracade™ and crops resistant to 2-4D chemistry from Dow Agrosciences called Enlist™ just to name a couple.

Seed traits are just one example of how technology has – and continues – to redefine production agriculture. “Technology” obviously has many different meanings within agriculture, and the definition largely depends on what a person does from day-to-day. A quick poll on Facebook and a few e-mails to our friends in the industry produced this list of ag technologies:

  • GPS
  • Auto-steer tractors
  • Smart Phones
  • Slow-release fertilizer
  • RFID technology for livestock

And the list goes on! How has technology transformed your own operation?

Industry NewsDiversify Your 2012 Crop Plan

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Nick Benson, Latham Corn Product Specialist

The value in working with a financial planner comes from diversifying one’s portfolio and reducing financial risk while maximizing returns. For the same reasons, it’s advantageous for corn growers to work with a knowledgeable seed representative to create a diversified hybrid seed corn portfolio.

Planting a “portfolio” of corn hybrids has multiple benefits:

  1. “Hedge” risk with different genetics – Even by picking products with various trait packages, a farmer can’t be 100% sure that he or she has a diversified line-up as genetic provider don’t always match up with trait providers.
  2. Plant hybrids with varying relative maturity – Spread your risk by planting a minimum of three or four different hybrid numbers. Different flowering dates can help reduce yield loss due to heat during pollination. For example, in 2011, hybrids with under a 100-RM were hurt worse in my particular area, but this is dependent on geographies. Planting later hybrids worked well this year because drydown wasn’t a problem. Some years are the exact opposite where hybrids don’t want to dry down and the earlier products can really pay off.
  3. Balancing offensive and defensive characteristics – Each year presents its own set of challenges: weed pressure, insect pressure, heat stress, emergence issues, disease pressure, overall yieldability in relationship to an “offensive” vs. a “defensive” year, drought tolerance and trait performance.

No financial planner worth his weight is going to advise clients to invest solely in mutual funds or high-risk stocks. That’s also why I’d never advise farmers to choose their seed portfolio based only on top-yielding varieties in F.I.R.S.T. Trials. While yield trials and plot data can help influence one’s seed purchasing decisions, they should NOT be the only – or even the primary – basis for choosing seed products. Choosing seed based on growing conditions in one location during one year is like picking your stocks based on only last year’s performance without considering factors that might cause market shifts. Additionally, a grower shouldn’t choose seed based solely on a product guide description. That’s comparable to choosing your financial portfolio after view the stock market in the Wall Street Journal.

A good seed representative will know how to best diversify your portfolio. One advantage of working with a seed representative from an independent company is that you can rest assured the products will truly be genetically diverse. Only an independent seed company can draw from multiple genetic pools to ensure diversity, and that means you can be assured your products were developed to work best in your geographic region rather than having to perform across the nation.

We believe the stakes are simply too high to not view seed selection as a portfolio. That’s why, at its most basic level, Latham Hi-Tech Seeds’ hallmark Seed-2-Soil® program helps corn growers determine which hybrids will help minimize risk while maximizing returns. Contact your local Latham representative or the Latham office to learn more about how you can balance your seed portfolio for 2012!