By Darren Hefty
The last decade was the decade for corn innovations and rapid yield growth. While I do expect corn to continue to improve, there’s little question the next 10 years will be the decade for soybeans. We anticipate all of the traits mentioned below to be available in our Hefty Brand soybean lineup the first year they are launched. Here are a few of the new things you can expect to see.
As I mentioned last month, the original Roundup Ready soybean trait’s patent will expire after the 2014 growing season. That’s not likely to be as big of a deal as it sounds with the volume of high quality traits and, specifically, the herbicide tolerance traits that will be launched in the coming years. Let’s start with the D’s.
Dicamba tolerant soybeans are likely to be commercially available in 2014 or possibly 2015. Dicamba is the active ingredient in products like Banvel and Clarity and one of the ingredients in Status. Dicamba has been an excellent weed control product over the years, and in combination with Ignite, Roundup, or both, it will be a great tool to fight resistant weeds. The cautions with dicamba-based herbicides have always been the potential for off-target drift and volatility (where products vaporize and move after they have landed on the target plants). Monsanto is bringing a stack with Roundup Ready 2 Yield plus Dicamba tolerance as the first offering from this family, and additional stacks with LibertyLink and other technologies are expected down the road. Monsanto is also working with BASF, who is developing a new formulation of dicamba that will likely have less volatility and better cold weather storage characteristics. Depending on how quickly the regulatory agencies clear this trait for market, we may have seed stock in our Hefty Brand soybean lineup as early as the spring of 2013. The development of high-yielding varieties with this trait package is that close to being ready.
We hope to have dicamba tolerant soybeans on our farm this summer to show you at our field day in July. We also hope to have 2,4-D tolerant corn and soybeans, as well.
That’s right. 2,4-D tolerant corn and soybeans are being developed. We expect that the corn will be launched full-scale as early as 2013. 2,4-D tolerant soybeans are expected to be launched for the 2015 season. Dow is developing this family of traits, as well as a new version of 2,4-D with better characteristics in terms of cold weather storage and much lower volatility. The name for this trait package will be Enlist, and the premixed herbicide with glyphosate and the new low-drift, very low-volatility formulation of 2,4-D will be called Enlist Duo.
Bayer is also working on new technologies to go along with their LibertyLink technology where you can spray Ignite in-crop. Expect HPPD tolerant soybeans around the same timeframe as the other 2 traits mentioned above. Bayer is planning for HPPD tolerant soybeans to be launched in 2015. HPPD tolerance would allow for the safe usage of products from the Callisto, Laudis, Balance Flexx family of herbicides. Within a few years of launch, a “triple stack” of Ignite, Roundup, and HPPD tolerance is expected.
As early as 2015, there may be stacked traits with Roundup Ready and LibertyLink technology. With the wave of Roundup-resistant weeds spreading through the soybean growing regions of the country, this basic stack would allow the same herbicide flexibility SmartStax and Quad Stack corn growers are benefitting from today. Depending on which companies are marketing this type of stack, it should receive wide acceptance across the country.
In terms of yield, none of these traits are downgraded for having “yield drag,” so there shouldn’t be a penalty for using them on your farm. As always, choose the right genetics for your soils and your area first. Then, look at which trait package suits your need. Right now with only 2 big choices (Roundup Ready or LibertyLink), both yield well and have varieties that fit well on nearly every acre in the U.S.
Within the next decade, we look for additional soybean traits for soybean cyst nematode protection, insect control, drought tolerance, higher yield, and certain nutritional enhancements just to name a few. All in all, this will be a fun decade to be involved with soybean production.