About “Beyond the Rows”

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

Authors:

  • avatar
  • avatar
  • avatar
  • avatar
  • avatar
  • avatar
[x] close

Tag Archives: Corn

Refuge-in-a-Bag: A New Benefit for Farmers

By Holly Butka
SmartStax Product Manager

Having been raised on a farm in Western Nebraska, I know first hand how hectic it can be during planting season. To maximize profits, farmers want to get the corn planted as quickly as possible. Not having to calculate refuge, clean out planters or fill the planter with two different products can really save time and reduce stress.

After years of research and work, Monsanto is finally able to offer growers in the Corn Belt the first single bag refuge solution, and I’m excited about the convenience that Genuity® SmartStax® RIB Complete™ will … Full Article »

Tags: , , , ,

Originally published
April 11, 2011 by Monsantoco

What Does a Family Farmer Know?

The following blog post was submitted to us by Glen Groth, a family farmer in Ridgeway, Minnesota who has dairy cows and raises corn & soybeans. Glen has become active on social media (@GrothFarms on Twitter) and has seen various conversations that make him want to speak up about the things he knows to be true.

When I think of ways to improve my family farm, the first things that come to my mind are based on what I know. I know planting corn at the right time will give me the highest yields. I know changing the oil … Full Article »

Tags: , , , ,

Originally published
March 14, 2011 by Janice Person

Talking about Water

We’ve been livetweeting Monsanto’s Water Utilization Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska, where Monsanto and some 250 growers have been meeting to talk about a new biotech trait that more efficiently utilizes water. A couple of time during the meeting yesterday, people following the conversation online asked: why does Monsanto care? One suggested a plot to take over the world’s water supply; such is the tenor of part, fortunately small, of the online conversation in general.

We care about water because our customers – farmers – care about water. It’s that simple. Water is the single greatest limiting factor in agriculture. In … Full Article »

Tags: , , , ,

Originally published
March 8, 2011 by Glynn Young

corn-banner

"We have to grow a good crop this year"

AgriNews, which covers agriculture in both Illinois and Indiana, had a story Monday about a Community Bank Ag Conference in Mendota, Ill. Normally, I don’t closely follow agricultural banking news, but the headline caught my attention: “Hybrids play major role in meeting world food needs.”

One of the speakers at the conference was Steve Freed, vice president of Research for ADM Investor Services. He had a number of important things to say – about growing world demand for corn and soybeans, driven particularly by China. Corn production alone will have to grow by a billion bushels by 2015 “to … Full Article »

Tags: , , , , ,

Originally published
February 15, 2011 by Glynn Young

Honors for Two Young Monsanto Employees

Two young Monsanto employees received special recognitions recently.

Doug Hubner, general manager of Monsanto’s Hubner Seeds business, has received the 2010 Future Giants of the Industry Award from the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA). The award is given annually to recognize leadership, innovation and commitment to the seed industry.

Cited for his passion, dedication and foresight, Hubner – whose father and grandfather founded Hubner Seeds in 1972 – is known for leading by example. Richard Hines, executive vice president of Indiana Design Consortium Inc., nominated Hubner for the award, and had this to say of his nominee:

“Doug leads by … Full Article »

Tags: , , , , , ,

Originally published
January 13, 2011 by Glynn Young

Corn Yield Contest: It's About Farmers

In late December, the National Corn Growers Association announced the winners in the U.S. national corn yield contest. It’s a closely watched competition, by both farmers and seed companies. Farmers look to see where average yields may be headed, and seed companies look for an opportunity to one-up the competition.

DeKalb and Hubner Seed customers and products did well in the contest. More precisely, they did outstandingly well, with five of eight first-place wins at the national level and 53 first-place wins at the state level. We’re proud of what our customers accomplished with DeKalb and Hubner corn … Full Article »

Tags: , , , , , ,

Originally published
January 4, 2011 by Glynn Young

Oklahoma Territory Agronomy Advisor and Katie's coworker, Michael Marlow, speaking at a field day in Blackwell, OK to a group of growers about Asgrow varieties in one of her soybean plots.

Where’s the sales pitch? It’s in the yield, it’s in the field!

By Katie

If you would have asked me 10 years ago what I wanted to be when I grow up, sales probably would have been one of the last things to come to mind. In fact, when I tell people now that I am involved in sales I feel like I need to explain exactly what I do so that they don’t think that I go door to door begging people to buy seed. I sell soybeans, corn, cotton, grain sorghum, winter canola and alfalfa and I love it. I only wish I would have known earlier what exactly it … Full Article »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Originally published
September 15, 2010 by Monsantoco

A Picture of a Reduced Refuge Concept is Worth…

A few weeks back, I wrote a post attempting to explain simply in words the difference between current and future corn products offering a reduced refuge. (“Refuge in the Bag: Will that be one bag or two?”)

I reviewed Monsanto’s current Genuity® VT Triple PROTM and Genuity® SmartStax TM products versus Pioneer’s Optimum® AcreMaxTM 1 and Monsanto’s in-development RIB Complete concept (not yet available).

Sometimes a picture is better than words. This technical piece provides an effective visual of the four products below.

Much better. Thanks team.

UPDATE: I received a comment (see below) that … Full Article »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Originally published
August 19, 2010 by Mica Veihman

Corn Earworm

New Corn Technologies Are Taking Down Some Major Pests

If you ask many corn farmers, aside from weather, pests are at the top of the list of factors that hurt their yields. Corn Earworm, Fall Armyworm, and Western Bean Cutworm can all impact yields due to destruction of corn kernels. Lucky for these corn farmers, scientists like the ones at Monsanto are working hard to develop traits and technology to combat these yield inhibitors.

This summer, Monsanto agronomists and farmers are taking a good look at our Genuity corn traits for corn and comparing how they stack up (pun intended) against insect pressure. A couple of weeks ago … Full Article »

Tags: , , , ,

Originally published
August 2, 2010 by Kathleen Manning

Detasseling allows one line of corn to fertilize the other, producing a high-yielding hybrid, and prevents the plants from self-pollinating and ruining the hybrid line.

A Quick Lesson in Detasseling

If you’re a farmer or farm kid, you know what detasseling is.

If you’re not, this video courtesy of reporter Mike Brooks at WICS in Springfield, Ill., gives you a good background on detasseling and why seed companies like Monsanto do it.

Detasseling Corn Alive and Well – Fox 55/27 Springfield, ILL

This Twitter search stream gives you a bit more, um, color, about what detasselers are saying this summer.

I was at the corn field while Mike was interviewing Monsanto employees and the workers. The detasseling is quite impressive. I’m not certain I could handle a whole month of … Full Article »

Tags: ,

Originally published
July 16, 2010 by Nick Weber