A combine can harvest six acres of corn in about 45 minutes.  It took a team of Monsanto employees nearly 100 days, working 10-12 hour shifts, because they were picking and shucking six acres worth of corn – about 120,000 ears – by hand!

The ears were picked at the Monsanto Monmouth Agronomy Center in Monmouth, Illinois, to include in a recent mailing to 25,000 growers throughout the central and northern Corn Belt in order to demonstrate how YieldGard® Plus, with in-plant insect protection, outyielded corn with the same germplasm protected by soil insecticides.

Monsanto mailed kits to 25,000 corn growers illustrating the yield advantage of YieldGard Plus Corn under dry weather conditions this season compared to corn protected with soil insecticides.  The kit included comparison corn ears and a DVD featuring Illinois growers discussing how YieldGard Plus helped reduce their weather risk.

The grower mailing contained comparison ears, showing an impressive difference in ear size between YieldGard and insecticide protected corn, along with a DVD video featuring several Illinois growers talking about the performance of their YieldGard Plus Corn during Illinois' severe drought conditions this season.

"Hand-picking 120,000 ears of corn was no easy task, but we felt it was important to share the story of what happened in Illinois this year with other growers,"  said Dave Rhylander, Director of Traits for Monsanto. "Weather is one of the biggest risks that growers face, and this season proved that YieldGard technology can help farmers reduce their weather-related risk."

The kits were mailed to 25,000 growers in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois,  Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.  

Early harvest results show that YieldGard® Plus Corn, with maximum protection against corn rootworms and corn borers, achieved a 15.0-bushel per acre yield advantage compared with corn protected with insecticides under the severe drought conditions experienced in Illinois this season. 

In addition, a significant number of growers in the extreme drought areas of Illinois experienced performance advantages in excess of 35 bushels per acre with YieldGard Plus.

Across the Midwest, much of which experienced unusually dry weather this season, YieldGard corn technology outyielded corn protected by insecticides by 10.9 bushels per acre.

Rhylander said because the YieldGard Plus roots were well-protected, the larger root systems were able to absorb more moisture and nutrients deeper in the soil. And because the YieldGard Plus stalks were well protected, they were also able to better transport extra moisture and nutrients to the entire plant.

“It’s this maximum amount of moisture and nutrients that helped YieldGard Plus significantly outperform other corn hybrids even under very dry conditions,” Rhylander said.

YieldGard Plus combines the consistent protection of YieldGard Rootworm and YieldGard Corn Borer in one seed, and it is the first corn technology to deliver whole-season, in-plant protection against European and southwestern corn borers and effective and consistent protection against western and northern corn rootworms. YieldGard Plus also offers in-the-bag protection against wireworms, white grubs, seed corn maggots, early flea beetles and black cutworms. In addition, it suppresses earworms, fall armyworms and stalk borers.

Growers must follow grain marketing and insect resistance management requirements and pesticide label directions. Comparisons show performance in the dry conditions in Illinois. Results may vary. YieldGard® is a registered trademark of Monsanto Technology LLC.