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Beyond the Rows is a Monsanto Company blog focused on one of the world’s most important industries, agriculture. Monsanto employees write about Monsanto’s business, the agriculture industry, and the farmer.avatar Monsantoco Posts

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Tag Archives: Corn

TyVaughnStill

Looking Ahead to the 2012 Corn Planting Season

As winter quickly passes, we recognize that many growers are gearing up for spring planting and may have questions about our recommendations for corn rootworm (CRW) traited hybrids due to recent discussions and headlines about corn rootworm populations.

Whether you are one of the few who experienced unexpected damage or one of the majority who experienced excellent performance on more than 99.8% of the acres planted with our corn rootworm traits in 2011, our recommendations for CRW control are the same.

  • We recommend you limit corn rootworm damage by using dual mode-of-action (pyramided) Bt-trait products, rotating your crop to

    • … Full Article »

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Originally published
January 27, 2012 by Monsantoco

FAN2050131

VIDEO BLOG: Strategies to Insure Farmer Productivity with Corn Rootworm Control

We generally look at three components for farmers to succeed with Monsanto products – agronomics, breeding and biotechnology. We work closely with agronomists at the state level across the country and have focal regions for each crop. And we share this information in a variety of ways, including our Technology Use Guide as we provide the best agronomic management practices to obtain the greatest yield and sustainably manage insect pests.

For the Corn Belt, there are great resources for us to work with in developing the best agronomic recommendations to accompany our corn products. In addition to work conducted … Full Article »

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Originally published
November 11, 2011 by Janice Person

FAN2050130

The Buzz on Sweet Corn

Recently, there has been a lot of buzz about one of Monsanto’s latest technology innovations, biotech sweet corn, or what we call Seminis Performance Series™ Sweet Corn. It has the potential to create sustainable improvements in sweet corn farming through the better use of resources and less reliance on pesticides.

Although this is a new product for Monsanto’s vegetable seed brand, Seminis®, for more than a decade farmers have been growing biotech sweet corn produced by another seed company with the beneficial, built-in protein (from Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt) that naturally occurs in the environment. This protein protects the … Full Article »

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Originally published
November 8, 2011 by Monsantoco

corn-2

Corn Rootworm Traits and Performance Questions

Recent headlines have questioned the performance of Monsanto’s corn rootworm-protected technologies in some areas of the U.S. Corn Belt.

Importantly, Monsanto’s portfolio of corn-rootworm products continue to demonstrate an outstanding level of performance and grower satisfaction across tens of millions of acres. Field monitoring of these products, which Monsanto has conducted since these products were first introduced last decade, demonstrate that corn rootworm-protected hybrids deliver superior performance on greater than 99 percent of all acres planted to the technology in the United States.

Recent headlines unfortunately overlook the reality that farmers have routinely faced areas with high populations of rootworms … Full Article »

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Originally published
September 12, 2011 by Monsantoco

FAN2050062

Who should speak up for farmers?

As farmers look at the way the world works, its easy to think things need to change. Tennessee farmer Johnny Dodson says farmers need to speak up & be involved. He started with county and state soybean association meetings many years ago and as he became more engaged and involved, the other steps just came into place.

“I believe in becoming involved & making a difference,” Dodson says. “I don’t believe there is anyone else who can present my case, my issues any better than I can. I’m involved in those issues that are important to me. Whether it be … Full Article »

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Originally published
August 19, 2011 by Janice Person

Al Macius CV Coop

Farmers Learning from Each Other

I happened to be in one of the fields Johnny Dodson farms near Four Points, Tennessee with soybean farmers from the Midwest who came down south to see the issues on weed resistance that Johnny and his neighbors are facing.

Standing alongside a bus that’s pulled off the road to let people out into a cotton or soybean field is surely the way to draw attention. And although Johnny’s fairly humble about this sort of thing, he also knows he has a unique chance to help some farmers get more proactive on weed management.

He knows complacency is easy to … Full Article »

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Originally published
August 16, 2011 by Janice Person

weed free soybean field

What's a Farmer to Do When Weed Resistance Threatens the Farm?

In a previous post, we learned a bit about Johnny Dodson and his Halls, Tennessee farm. In that post, things at the farm may have seemed idyllic. As he talked, the birds chirped and all seemed right with the world. But reality is, Johnny is in the epicenter of weed resistance. Having grown 30 crops (2011 is his thirty-first and he’s working to make it a success), Johnny says he has seen various weed shifts and challenges presented to him.

Johnny says he’s seen discussion of glyphosate-resistant weeds in the media and he certainly realizes resistance is a significant … Full Article »

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Originally published
August 12, 2011 by Janice Person

Tennessee Johnny Dodson

On the Farm with Tennessee Farmer Johnny Dodson

This trip was long overdue. I’ve been lucky enough to talk to Halls, Tennessee farmer Johnny Dodson several times before – I vividly remember some Midwestern soybean farmers borrowing a cotton boll to show Johnny he wasn’t the only cotton person in Kansas City for a meeting and other chances to talk with him about how things were going on the farm or his ideas on topics of current interest.

Each time, Johnny said I should visit the farm sometime. I meant to do it for years so when someone was headed out on vacation & I heard there was … Full Article »

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Originally published
August 11, 2011 by Janice Person

We're all in this together…

Editor’s note: Rory Herron is one of two UK interns spending their summer at Monsanto’s global headquarters, under a program with Scotland’s Saltire Foundation. The Saltire Foundation is an independent charitable organization representing a new vision for Scotland, providing invaluable opportunities through experience, learning and business networking. Its undergraduate internship programme offers Scotland’s students the chance to spend 8 weeks working at a top multinational company with the aim of encouraging candidates to develop their confidence, skills and capacity to succeed.

By Rory Herron

I’m the youngest of seven children. Before I was born in Ireland, my parents and … Full Article »

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Originally published
July 29, 2011 by Monsantoco

Indian Farmers Producing More, Conserving More and Improving Lives with Better Technology

By Sara Duncan

Indian farmer Jamuna Lal had always planted his corn crop the same way: he mixed the corn seed with the fertilizer and spread it out over the field. Like many farmers in his village, he also used a traditional method of a bullock-drawn indigenous plough based system. Using this method results in the random spacing of seeds and direct contact with fertilizer—both factors decrease yield.

After seeing farmers experiment with mechanization, Lal decided to join a project that introduced him to a new sowing and fertilizing drill that would revolutionize his farming practice.

The seed cum fertilizer … Full Article »

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Originally published
July 14, 2011 by Monsantoco