Source: University of Nebraska Lincoln - Crop Watch

Seed selection becoming more targeted and complex

These days, buying corn or soybean seed is a bit like buying a new vehicle. You’ve seen the ads -- prices starting at $21,400, but as shown, $39,500. Similarly, the genetically elite seed options don’t come cheap, but they can accomplish a lot. The price per acre of “enhanced” seed can easily double upfront costs, but likely should result in reduced pesticide and application costs.
 

Today’s seed may have simplified some production elements, but it has complicated the process of selecting seed and pushed forward the timing of when some pest control decisions are made. Do you need Bt seed for corn rootworm and/or corn borer control? Will Roundup Ready seed address your weed problems? Is soybean cyst nematode apt to be a problem in your area? Is the group of seed you’re considering genetically diverse to help manage risk?

All these and many more factors are important to the selection process, but the heart of the decision should still be yield. Do field trials and grower experience indicate that the seed you’re considering will produce top yields in your field conditions? In the end, the vehicle with all the options is only as good as its performance and reliability.

In this article several UNL Extension specialists address some of the new options and what to consider when selecting seed.

Not surprisingly, Nebraska Farm Business Association data indicates that the average price of seed per year is increasing faster than the cost of other inputs, said Roger Elmore, Extension crops specialist. For example from 1991 to 2003, seed cost increased an average of $1.45 per acre per year while herbicide and insecticide costs decreased by an average of just 14 cents per acre per year, Elmore said. During the same period, fertilizer costs increased an average of $1.14 per acre per year.

A further look at the numbers indicates that much of the increase in seed costs occurred in the latter half of that period as GMO seed became more popular. With the increased popularity of these GMOs and the likelihood of farmers ordering stacked traits in the future, costs could easily reach $65-$70 an acre for seed, Elmore said.

“It’ll be easy to get a huge bill for seed if you aren’t selective about what you need and get,” he said. “You don’t want to buy things you don’t need, and it would be really easy to do that.”

Alex Martin, Extension weed specialist, agrees. This year the royalty fee for Roundup Ready soybeans is increasing $4.75 a bag to approximately $15.25 a bag. While seed and enhancements aren’t priced separately from seed, each enhancement adds a cost.

Following is a general schedule of royalty fees or costs per trait for various corn hybrids: $18 per bag for the Roundup Ready gene; $24 a bag for corn borer control, and $45 per bag for rootworm control. Stacking all three traits could cost $87 in fees per bag before you even include the actual price of the seed. (Note: These costs are estimates and can be affected by several factors, including the amount of seed being ordered.)

Extension specialists recommended that growers carefully consider their needs and their goals, balancing expected costs with benefits.

Factors in seed selection

When selecting seed, “yield is always the end and should be the first criteria for seed selection,” Elmore said. Seek information about performance from the seed literature and from nonbiased sources such as university research and demonstration trials. (See varietytests.unl.edu or Nebraska Seed Guide 2004, EC101.) Compare conditions at the trial site with conditions on your farm.

UNL extension specialists have developed a step-by-step guide for using data from the variety trials to systematically select hybrids best suited for a particular operation. Using yield as the first criteria, it helps the reader develop a pool of genetically diverse seed hybrids which are proven performers and would be expected to yield well in a given situation. See Using Soybean Yield Data to Improve Variety Selection – Part I (G04-1546) and Part II (G04-1547, expected in early November 2004) and Using Corn Hybrid Yield Data to Improve Selection of Rapidly Changing Hybrids (G03-1521).

When considering whether to buy GMO or non GMO seed and whether to use seed treatments, consider pest pressures from this year and the likelihood of more problems next year, then select enhancements likely to control those problems. If the field is in rotation and hasn’t had a threshold level of a particular insect, for example corn rootworm, will a GMO seed with resistance to corn rootworm pay for itself in the long run? Similarly, if you’ve never had a major problem with wireworms, will the $5-10 seed treatment pay for itself?

In some cases, producers may consider seed treatments or enhanced seed as a type of insurance, said Bob Wright, Extension entomologist. The value of this decision depends on the cost and the likelihood of a problem.

For example, while wireworm problems aren’t common, wireworms can wipe out a field and a producer is left with no recourse. There isn’t any postemergence rescue treatment for wireworms. In some cases providing control in case a problem would develop may be well worth it.

Some seed treatments, such as Cruiser, Prescribe, and Poncho, offer a lower rate for early season soil insect control and a higher rate for corn rootworm control.

“These products often do a good job with low to moderate populations of rootworms. With heavy rootworm pressure, generally the seed treatments have not proven to be as good. High populations may still require a rescue treatment,” Wright said.(See the Oct. 8 CropWatch for results from this year’s UNL corn rootworm insecticide field trials.)

Planning for hybrid marketability

Another selection factor to consider is what markets are accepting the GMO crop being considered. If similar benefits can be obtained from a non GMO or from a seed treatment, neither of which are likely to limit markets, this may be a factor in the selection process.

Know the marketability of the hybrid/variety before buying the seed and plan to segregate the grain, if necessary, depending on the end market.

“Grain from some areas is more readily channeled to one market or another,” noted Martin. “If you’re planning to truck it to your nearest elevator, make sure they will take it.” For a guide to the approval status of corn hybrids in Europe and Japan visit the National Corn Growers Association Biotechnology Web site at http://lepton.marz.com/ncga/search_hybrids/know_where.asp.

As part of its “Know Before you Grow” campaign, it recommends you know whether a specific hybrid is conventional, approved for EU export or not yet approved for EU export. "Growers should read their grower agreements before planting and be fully aware of the requirements of those agreements. It is vital that hybrids awaiting EU approval are kept out of export and processing channels.”

For a list of elevators and the GMOs they’re accepting, visit the American Seed Trade Association Web site at http://asta.farmprogress.com/locator.htm

With transgenics, it’s also good to verify and not assume their spectrum of activity.

“Today’s products target a pest more specifically than traditional options. Not all Bts are alike and not all products provide the same coverage,” Wright said.

For example, Herculex 1 and YieldGard both provide good control of corn borer, but they cover different spectrums, Wright said. Herculex also provides control of black cutworm and western bean cutworm. Growers also should be watching for new traits which are currently under development or being field tested, Elmore said. Many Nebraska producers may be particularly interested in work on a “drought gene” which could be inserted into corn hybrids to provide more stability in poor production environments, especially drought conditions.

Each year a number of new hybrids and varieties are introduced on the market, necessitating an annual checkup to ensure that you’re employing the seed and seed technologies available to get the highest yields possible and the traits and pest management options best suited to your field environment. While newly available, several years of commercial and university trial raings are usually available. UNL Extension specialists recommend testing new varieties or hybrids on a limited number of acres typical of your field conditions before switching a major percentage of your crop to a newer hybrid or variety.

Lisa Jasa
CropWatch Editor