CARY, Ill. — Farmers’ Independent Research of Seed Technologies (FIRST), a seed testing company, is finally under way with this season’s harvest.
The crops it tests are mainly corn grain and soybeans, but it also has a limited corn silage testing program. The company operates mainly in the greater Midwest, but this year has started corn grain testing in Virginia. This expands its portfolio to 16 states total.
FIRST was doing corn silage testing in Wisconsin, but gave it up because of a lack of demand, noted Joe Bruce, FIRST general manager. It still does this in a portion of Pennsylvania. Bruce said these tests result in precise information about how much milk will be gained from the product tested.
Also new this year, the company split its Mid-Atlantic soybean-testing region: it is now two regions, Pennsylvania Southeast and Delaware Maryland North. This was necessary, as these areas are somewhat different growing zones, according to Bruce.
Changes closer to home this year include a new corn grain-testing region called Michigan West Central. The new area will include 45 corn hybrids ranging from 95-104 relative maturity days, with tests in Clinton, Eaton, Gratiot, Ingham, Kent and Montcalm counties.
In Ohio, soybean testing was added to its West Central region – 30 soybean products ranging from 2.8-3.8 U.S. growing zones maturity will be tested in Darke, Hardin, Logan and Marion counties.
Bruce explained seed companies tell the firm what products to test and where to test them, although exact farms and precise locations are worked out by FIRST.
"There may be certain products that are better suited for Illinois than Indiana," he said. "We develop the locations internally. There are certain things we look for when we do a test. Conditions have to be uniform in a number of different factors. When it comes to locations, there’s a whole lot going on behind the scenes. We also look at what the farmers are doing. We try to emulate what they’re doing."
Besides these considerations, Bruce said companies might want to sell a particular product in one area, but not in another. Positive seed test plot results are obviously good advertising for the company, brand and product. He said seed companies want to have products that make the top 30 list of performers.
FIRST’s big selling point is it produces test results much faster than others that do similar testing, he said. Most land grant institutions, for example, do this kind of work but take much longer to publish their results.
As far as this year’s crop conditions are concerned, Bruce noted corn has been delayed more than he had projected early in September, due to cool weather. Soybeans are on track this year as the amount of daylight impacts crop development more than temperature.
In addition to the test reports published on its website, FIRST will also publish a harvest summary for each region at the end of the season. Regular reports will continue to come out until the end of harvest.
Beginning next week, Farm World will once again publish weekly a small sample of the reports from FIRST on corn grain and soybean test plots in this region. To view all reports online as they become available, go to the company’s website at www.firstseedtests.com
Growers interested in providing ground for test sites may apply now for 2015 consideration. If you are interested, write to: FIRST Seed Tests, 562 S. Prairie St., Cary, IL 60013, email Joe Bruce at info@ firstseedtests.com or fill out the electronic form online at www.firstseedtests.com/ contact.html
