Importance of Test Plot Data

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Good morning, everyone. What I wanted to talk to you about today a little bit, was plot data, So there’s always this big focus throughout the year, especially throughout the selling part of the season, on plot data. Do you have any, do you have any yields, do you have any information about those products. I take plot data pretty seriously. We do a lot of testing in the field on these hybrids so that we can develop or enhance our product portfolios as the years go on. And so just wanted to share with you a little bit of information about that testing program and about some of the information that we’re getting back.

We really took an intensive look at how to test these products this year, and so trying to look at all of our commercial and all of our experimental products, for yield, for pH, for drought tolerance and for ear flex. The way we did that was, we set up our test plots so that we could see those things. Drought obviously takes Mother Nature’s cooperation there to get the drought response that we need to see. But luckily, this year, we had plenty of drought conditions, and got some really good ratings on drought tolerance on our hybrids ear flex. We set that trial up on an irrigated basis, fully irrigated with full fertility, and then planted four different populations in that field, ranging from 10,000 to 32,500 to see how much ear flex we could get out of these hybrids. And then pH, we went into a really hot pH spot in a growers field, and we planted every hybrid in that pH spot so that we could go out there and take those visual ratings. Then at the end of the year, take those ear size ratings to see how that pH, or that high pH was affecting those hybrids. Pretty, pretty excited about some of the results that we’re seeing, because we really feel like, after one year’s testing with a big group of experimental hybrids, we’ve got some, some really nice products to bring back into next year’s testing and likely release in your fields, in 2026. In most of our full season trials there that we harvested for yield out of that flex plot, we’re seeing that we have five, six, maybe seven, brand new experimental releases coming in at the top of those plots. Then we look at our commercial hybrids, and we’ve got a pretty tight group of commercial hybrids yielding together. Some of the top numbers, 62K69, 63F60, 66F54 we really think these are good, solid bases to build off of. They’re good, consistent performers, and they’re products that we have a little bit of background on. These new products that really kind of knocked our socks off on the yield, none of them have a root worm trait. We’re looking at, is it the rootworm trait that is actually limiting some of our yield potential there, and is there a way that we can use those products in a continuous corn environment when they’re not traited for it? Also looking at, was there other management factors that contributed to these high yields? We’re going to expand our testing a little bit next year, we’re gonna bring back these top products to put into those test plots. We’re gonna be out there every week in the field, scouting those and making ratings on them, so that when we do release them into your farm in 2026 we know where to place those products and what to expect from their performance. It really takes a little bit of time and a little bit more effort, I feel like, to get that consistency, or to have the confidence that we’re going to get that consistency when we put those products in the field. So one year testing, really exciting to see there. We’re going to take that, we’re going to put that into multi year data by testing those same products another year, and then we’re going to use those products that shine year after year to enhance our product portfolios and increase yield on your farms. We’re not chasing winners year after year, drop the products we have to go with just the top ones in the plot, because we know that the factors that Mother Nature influences there can take the winner and make it the loser next year. We’re not going to chase those winners. We’re going to make sure that we have some multi-year data on those and then we’re going to enhance those product portfolios with those products that shine year over year. There’s really no silver bullet in this hybrid performance piece, and that’s why we really look at the portfolio of products that we can place. From the full season standpoint, like I said, some of the big performers, 62K69, 63F60, 66F54 and 62B56. In the more mid season on those irrigated plots, really seeing a brand new number 59V44 come out the gate really strong, liking to see that and 59L59 a number that we’ve been familiar with for a few years did really well as well. Keeping those in the mix with some of our other fuller season hybrids there. That’s all I’ve got for you today, just taking a quick look at this test plot data and kind of thinking through how we use it to enhance that portfolio. As we move forward, you’ll be seeing a lot of these plot results come out from us here in the next few weeks, and we’re excited to share them with you. We’re excited to see the potential that we have as we move forward here with Axis Seed. That’s all for today, I’m Matt Long, thanks for joining us on this episode of EZ Ag. Grow your yield. Grow your legacy. Grow strong with Axis Seed.