There are over 1,700 corn, silage, and soybean products entered in the 2023 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.

Planting Progress FIRST Manager Bill Schelp has some of his earliest planted beans in Missouri program history. Planting for corn started on April 11, and his bean plots started April 23, with all 18 MO locations completed on April 28. Farmers in central and northern Missouri made fast progress on planting this spring, with warmer temperatures than most of the Midwest.

There are a handful of other plots planted around the program, including in Kentucky and Indiana fields (photo nearby). Central and southern Indiana saw fit conditions for most locations to be planted in April. In the last week of April, it warmed up enough to see plots in Illinois and Iowa planted alongside farmers there.

In the west, FIRST Manager Adam Stuteville has several corn plots done in Kansas and Nebraska, but dry conditions have halted field work until some rain falls. To the east, manager Rob Kauffman anticipates that planting will begin the last weekend of April. Up north, Southern Minnesota FIRST manager Mark Querna noted that a few farms were planting in the southeast, but conditions were too cold in most of the region.

The 2023 FIRST Program Directory, released in July, will include region information, plot locations, products tested, and more about the 2023 trials.