“11 Bushels Better”
Indiana grower Max Schmucker didn’t take anyone else’s word on evaluating 2010 results with the new SmartStax® technology. Schmucker designed a 38-acre on-farm trial to compare Mycogen® SmartStax with his then-favorite trait stack, Herculex® XTRA Insect Protection.
Schmucker set up his planter to drop four rows of Mycogen brand
2T784, a 114-day, high-yielding SmartStax hybrid, side by side with four rows of a Herculex XTRA hybrid with similar genetics.
A huge difference was revealed at harvest time.
“The SmartStax corn was 11 bushels better,” says Schmucker, who farms with help from his son, Dan, in Nappanee.
The extra yield from the Mycogen SmartStax hybrid resulted in an outstanding return on investment. “At $5 corn, that is $55 an acre more and that’s worth it,” he says.
More protection
SmartStax hybrids deliver the broadest spectrum of in-plant insect protection — including European corn borer, corn rootworm, corn earworm, fall armyworm, western bean cutworm and black cutworm — through multiple modes of action. “The (advanced) traits give us more yield because they protect us against insect problems,” Schmucker says.
More flexibility
With two herbicide tolerance traits, Schmucker has the option of using Roundup Ready® or LibertyLink® herbicide programs for post-emergence weed control.
In addition to the trial with SmartStax
® 2T784, Schmucker also ran smaller comparisons between Mycogen SmartStax hybrids and several other competitive hybrid brands. “In my plot, SmartStax beat everything that was in there,” he says.
The on-farm trials provided Schmucker with strong evidence to plant more acres to Mycogen SmartStax next year. “I expected it to be better and it was better. I will plant more SmartStax next year,” he concludes.