By Darren Hefty

If you haven’t ordered your seed for next year’s crop, chances are a good share of the market (likely over 75%) has beaten you to the punch.  With a record early harvest, early ordering of seed is to be expected.  Couple that with the knowledge that many seed companies are going to run short due to poor growing conditions over the summer and you’ve got a recipe for tight supplies and certain cutbacks to follow.  The question is, “What do I do about it and how can I beat the system to get the best seed for my farm?”

CORN

With many experts predicting over 100 million acres of corn for next year, the sooner you can order the better.  Also, there are some excellent early order discounts available right now from almost every seed brand.  If you’re looking for a $100/hour job or just a great Return on Investment (ROI), you’ve found it.

Let’s say you can still get an 8% early order discount on your seed.  If you bought seed on October 15th and planted on April 15th, what would your return on investment be?  You received an 8% discount for spending your money 6 months earlier than you had to.  8% divided by 6 months times a full year (12 months) would be 16% APR (Annual Percentage Rate).  Where else can you get 16% on your money? Plus, this is a sure thing.  You’re buying seed that you for sure will plant.

With corn, here are four things to keep in mind:

  1. Get the trait package you want and need – If you need SmartStax for corn rootworm control, you’ll need to order early.
  2. Take your seed as soon as possible – The only way to be sure you get what you want is to take delivery before someone else gets it.
  3. Get the defensive package you have to have – If you need Goss’s Wilt tolerance or a hybrid that handles Gray Leaf Spot, don’t accept a substitute that doesn’t have it.  If that’s all you can get, you will need to change which field that hybrid goes on or change your rotation.
  4. Don’t get so hung up on the newest thing or the plot winner from this year – Next year will be different and this year’s plot winner will likely not do it again.  If you can’t get the hybrid you want, take a proven winner as a replacement and expect to do just as well.

SOYBEANS

Supplies of soybean seed are best in the earlier maturities from Group 00 up through early Group 2.  Later maturity soybeans are hit and miss depending on drought conditions where your soybean seed was grown.

Action points for soybean seed:

  1. Order early and take at least the tight-supply varieties you want
  2. Take advantage of early order discounts, which are typically the same as the corn discounts
  3. Paying for seed treatments early may offer similar savings as the seed itself
  4. Look for varieties that were strong in 2011 and 2012 (handled a wet year and a dry year)
  5. Spread out your risk by planting multiple varieties at varying maturities