Planting Progress, seed tech trends, new brands, and more

FIRST Newsletter | April 2022

25-Apr-2022 | Issue 19 | www.firstseedtests.com

In This Issue

News from around the program - slower start this year

New brands in 2022 tests

Search for impressive multi-year results in FIRST's Seed Product Search to win a $25 Amazon gift card

2022 Program Update

There are over 1,800 corn, silage, and soybean products entered in the 2022 FIRST performance trials. FIRST is proud to offer unbiased, accurate information about new seed on the market, head-to-head comparisons among competitors in the same field, and multi-location research data for free to the public and for use by seed company sponsors.

With America's finest seed brands entering products in the trials (more below), FIRST's task is to arrange their seed into thousands of strip plots. Packaging seed and ordering packets for planting in FIRST's replicated, randomized test designs is an intensive process handled by FIRST Field Managers during late winter months. They also arrange plot locations with FIRST member farmers and flag sites to prepare for planting.

Planting Progress Cold weather patterns are keeping the Minnesota and Dakotas FIRST managers out of the field. Even inside it is cold: Manager Ed Dahle said the heater can't keep up for seed packaging work in the shop. April planting dates look unlikely for his central Minnesota regions.

Manager Bill Schelp said that he had not seen or heard of anything planted in the central and north Missouri regions as of April 20. However, windy, warm weather allowed for planting his first plot on April_22 at the Gaskill farm in St. Joseph,_MO.

Trent Gaskill, seen here, out applying anhydrous in early March. Trent's father Jeff is a FIRST Member farmer, hosting a Missouri North plot in St. Joseph, MO. FIRST Manager Bill Schelp caught up with the Gaskills while flagging plot locations in the area.

In southern Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky, it's been considerably colder than normal. Klint Tucker, who manages FIRST regions there has flagged plots but planting will not start for a week or more. Similarly, southern Iowa regions managed by Randy Meinsma have seen snow every week this spring.

Manager Jason Beyers provided this report from northwest Illinois: "We finally received enough moisture to get some of the major tile lines to start running again two weeks ago. At least we know we have some subsoil moisture to start the season off. Due to the cool temperatures in the 10-day forecast and a few more chances of rain, most farmers are not too excited about putting corn or soybeans in the ground. There have been a few people putting spring anhydrous ammonia down, seeding new waterways, and starting to apply their pre-emergent herbicides. I’m afraid that when mother nature does give us a window, everything will happen in a hurry. Hope everyone has a safe and productive planting season."

FIRST Contact Information

Test Entries and NEW Brands joining FIRST trials in 2022

FIRST would like to welcome new entrants in the 2022 trials. JR Simplot is testing Innvictus and AgVenture brand corn hybrids. AgVenture - Wehmeyer Seeds is a new sponsor. Also new to the tests are Tracy Seeds, Prairie Hybrids, and OP Corn. RedTail brand, sponsored by King's AgriSeeds is new in the corn silage trials. New soybean brand Dak-Sota* is entered by Thunder Seed, and Agri-Partners is a new sponsor for Loyal* soybean brand.

We are grateful for these and all sponsoring seed companies for entering FIRST trials. Check the listing on our website www.firstseedtests.com for sponsors and participants in the 2022 tests.

* Note: M.S. Technologies brands Dak-Sota and Loyal are distributed by Thunder Seed and Agri-Partners, respectively.

See All 2022 FIRST Sponsors

Seed Technologies With planting around the corner, all but a handful of products are set for entry in the 2022 FIRST tests. Seed technologies continue to change the testing lineups. This year SmartStax Pro® is a new technology in the corn grain tests. Most of the soybean testing regions required glyphosate and glufosinate tolerance for all entered products, so RoundUp® Xtend® beans were no longer included. The table below shows the distribution of seed technologies for 2022. We will have all the details in the FIRST Program Directory released in July.

FIRST's Seed Product Search — Find Impressive Reports to WIN

The Seed Product Search feature at firstseedtests.com is a great way to find multi-year yield results for seed products. The number of trials and Top 30 finishes are shown on the product report with a map and table of yields at every location.

We looked at all the products tested in 2021, and sorted them to find outstanding overall results. There are some great performances: 16 soybean varieties that have more than 40 trials with over 60%Top 30 finishes.

If you can find 1 of these 16 soybean varieties in FIRST's Seed Product Search, tell us in an email to search@firstseedtests.com.

The first 10 correct answers will receive a $25 Amazon gift card.

Hints: all the varieties are between MG 2 and 4, and most had a top 5, usually a #2 finish in at least 1 FIRST Harvest Report in 2021. Each Harvest Report has a link to the seed's Product Search webpage next to the product_name_⇗.

New products tested first in 2021 are easy to check. These may have just one year of trial history, but FIRST's multi-location test design ensures that each corn hybrid has 5-6 locations and bean varieties have 4 locations to show how they yield in different environments in the same geographic area.

2021 Trials Results: Performance Summary PDFs Available

Go to Summary Reports Page

Unbiased, Accurate Yield Testing. Every Time.

We welcome your feedback or questions about the FIRST program!

Please contact us at info@firstseedtests.com