By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER

Ohio Correspondent

CARY, Ill. — It’s a challenge for producers to pick the best corn and soybean seeds to plant. They can simplify that by using the information furnished by the Farmers’ Independent Research of Seed Technologies (FIRST), which provides timely, unbiased comparison of innovative seed genetics to improve yield and profitability for American corn and soybean farmers.

The program tests corn grain, corn silage and soybean seed products in 15 states (the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland). FIRST used 12 field managers and their independent businesses to identify, plant and harvest 532 tests at 328 locations in 2017.

“We have regions across the United States that are grouped, based on agronomic similarities, soil types, maturities and so forth,” said Joe Bruce, general manager of FIRST.

Farmer members assist in test site selection, conduct all production operations and provide all inputs except seed, its planting and harvest, Bruce said. Companies that want to take part in the research pay an entry fee, decide which products to test, where to test them and provide seed.

In 2017, 1,053 corn products from 79 companies and 771 soybean products from 56 companies were tested. “That data is summarized, and made publicly available to growers,” Bruce said.

“It is the unbiased results comparing thousands of different products. The companies view this as a way to validate the data that they generate. It is good for everybody.”

The goal is not necessarily to find the best corn and soybean products, but to identify the products that are consistently high-performing and above average, he said. The table only shows the top 30 products even though there may have been more varieties in the test. Those top 30 are above-average.

“New this year we have three corn grain regions in Michigan – Michigan West-Central, Michigan Thumb and Michigan South,” Bruce noted. “We also reopened soybean testing in Indiana North and Indiana Central, and we reopened corn grain testing in Ohio Northwest.

“Changes for 2018 include reopening corn grain and soybean testing in Ohio West-Central and Indiana South.”

The FIRST field managers are all independent businesses under the FIRST umbrella, and all are familiar with research testing. They use uniform procedures. The testing is done on-site, except for a small soybean sample taken for protein and oil composition.

Jason Beyers has been a FIRST field manager for 18 years. He tests in northern Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. Harvest this year has been slow getting started because the region was late on heat degree units and that delayed everything by a couple of weeks, he explained.

“Late September, even going into late August, we didn’t get much rain,” he said. “That made this crop die prematurely (in some areas). If the weather plays fair, we should be able to wipe out a lot of that crop this week.

“We had a couple of locations – one that we planted early and one that we planted late – that suffered from excess moisture at planting time, which reduced the amount of emergence, which reduced the number of plants in the field. Growing conditions after that point were good on the whole of Michigan; all of the corn was uniform at the V5 stage, which is 10 to 12 inches tall.”

Matt Turner, the FIRST manager in central and northern Indiana and northwestern Ohio, is new this year to the FIRST umbrella. He has shelled about five corn and one soybean plots this year; the harvest has been slow so far due to rain and poor cutting conditions, he said.

“We had a cool, wet summer, so things were kind of delayed,” Turner said. “I’ve only shelled corn in central and northern Indiana. It was early corn, planted between April 15 and April 24. So far the yields have been good, above average. I’ve just cut one soybean plot, and I don’t know the planting date, but it was good, also.

“Things get a little complicated in the midst of harvest season, with weather and if your combine breaks down (Turner’s combine had just done that) – but once things get wrapped up it is a good feeling, and then you have next year to look forward to.”

FIRST encourages farmers, consultants, agronomists and seed industry representatives to use their information and to contact the firm with comments or suggestions. To learn more and search for information on seed tests in your area, visit www.firstseedtests.com