By Darren Hefty
The Roundup Ready 2 Yield (RR2Y) trait for soybeans has been out since the 2009 growing season, and frankly, it’s outperforming the original Roundup Ready trait on average by several bushels. Yes, it costs $4-$5 more per unit, but the return for that little extra investment has been very good and very consistent. The other thing we’ve noticed with the RR2Y soybeans is that in general they are bigger and bushier than the original Roundup Ready beans and they have a greater tendency to produce four-bean pods. We believe this has zero to do with the new trait itself. The parent variety where the RR2Y trait was introduced was a very good yielding bean in and of itself with excellent disease tolerance. The original Roundup Ready trait was first inserted in a rather poor agronomic bean. Since all future crosses have come off the initial parents of each trait, it’s been quite an advantage for the RR2Y varieties right from the start.
Speaking of the propensity to produce four-bean pods, the Roundup Ready 2 Yield varieties are being underestimated by companies that cannot offer the trait to their customers like Pioneer. While some competitors are saying that four and even five-bean pods are no big deal, common sense tells us otherwise. If we have 150,000 plants per acre with one extra bean per plant, at 2800 seeds per pound, that amounts to just shy of one bushel per acre. If the Roundup Ready 2 Yield beans have just one four-bean pod in addition to all the pods a competitor’s bean plant has, it would amount to a nearly 4 bushel per acre advantage, which has been pretty close to what we’re seeing.
While the Roundup 2’s are exciting, demand is building for another technology as well. Three things are driving the growth of Liberty Link soybeans: glyphosate resistant weeds, rotational concerns, and better performance in tough areas of the field.
Obviously if you have weeds that are resistant to glyphosate, planting beans with Liberty Link technology and spraying them with Ignite herbicide is a much better option for weed control. Many guys are also switching to Liberty Link beans before they see resistant weeds to try to preserve the value of Roundup on their farms. This way, they can still use Roundup Ready corn, cotton, or sugar beets effectively in their rotations.
One other thing that farmers are learning again this year is how tough many of the Liberty Link varieties are. Whether it’s higher salts, higher pH, or just plain old sour ground, almost all of the Liberty Link varieties we’ve seen have had great defensive qualities in addition to high yield potential. If you haven’t tried Liberty Link beans yet there are some aggressive financial offers to do so this year at a greatly reduced cost compared to any other soybean system. Talk to one of our agronomists and give them a look on your farm this year.
2012 should be a great chance to get an excellent return on investment from your soybean crop. The best opportunity for you to profit appears to be with the newest varieties, and in the Hefty Brand Soybean lineup we have the best of the best in all three trait packages discussed above.