Mother Nature can be especially unpredictable in the South, where spring and summer rains are often feast or famine. As an NK agronomist whose territory includes Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas, Jason Sanders is hoping that 2023 growing conditions are somewhere in between the last two years. Unlike his counterparts to the north, whose nemesis is often diseases like Tar Spot or insects like Corn Rootworm, Jason says that weather is the No. 1 challenge in his region.
“We’re different down here because we don’t have the insect and disease pressures or agronomic concerns that the Midwestern growers have to deal with,” he says. “Environmental conditions dictate a lot. We’re wondering if we’ll be hot and dry or cool and wet and where our yields will be.”
He says the last two seasons have been a rollercoaster for Southern farmers.
“The 2021 growing season was cool and wet — great growing conditions that helped many farmers produce some of the highest yields they’d ever seen,” he recalls. “Unfortunately, last year was very different; 2022 was very hot and dry, and yields suffered as a result.”
The Mississippi-based agronomist has been with Syngenta for 18 years, working primarily on the crop protection side of the business before switching to agronomy about five years ago. Given the expansiveness of his geography, it’s no surprise that the 2023 planting has been a mixed bag for the farmers he supports. “Each state in my territory looks a little different,” he reports. In late April, he described planting progress for each:
- On pace in Alabama: Corn planting was typical for Alabama, according to Jason.
- A mixed bag in Mississippi: Farmers in the southern Mississippi Delta were able to plant on time, or even “a shade early,” planting a lot of corn in March. Farmers in northern Mississippi had wet weather to contend with in March and April, preventing many of them from getting in the fields until April. In the hills of northeastern Mississippi, farmers were even further behind, with many beginning to plant in late April, a week or two behind their typical planting window.
- Replanting in Louisiana: Planting got underway in February for Louisiana farmers, who were well ahead of pace and wrapping things up by the end of March. “Unfortunately for that early Louisiana corn, temperatures dipped below freezing at the end of March, so we had a significant number of acres replanted,” says Jason, who notes that most of this was competitor corn since the majority of NK® corn did not go in the area that was planted first.
- Timely in Texas: Planting in the Lone Star State began in early February and wrapped up by early April near the Oklahoma state line.
Hybrids Bred to Withstand Southern Heat and Drought
Whether this year mirrors the bumper crops of 2021 or the drought and yield loss of 2022, Jason is confident that NK corn and soybean products will set up farmers for success.
“Barring last year’s degree of stress, I think NK genetics can help farmers manage stress, maintain yields, and also handle a saturated, poorly drained soil.” He names a handful of standout products bred for the challenges that farmers in his area face:
- Two key products, NK1677 brand and NK1748 brand, remain a focus for Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. NK1677 brand is a true Southern hybrid that’s positioned for success on the highly productive acre. Growers will take note of its excellent combination of strong stalks and roots, its improved test weight and grain quality, and its desirable ear placement and husk cover. NK1748 brand offers improved consistency of agronomics and yield potential across all environments. It features very strong roots with moderate plant and ear height.
- Farmers in the region have also had success with NK1082 brand, a broadly adapted hybrid featuring Artesian® technology for all yield environments. This standout hybrid offers excellent yield potential not just in the South, but across the entire Corn Belt.
- NK1694-GT brand is a popular refuge corn in Louisiana and Mississippi. This hybrid is well adapted to drought-prone soils.
- Over in Texas, Jason says that NK1694 brand is a predominant product, but it’s one that farmers will soon move away from. “We have 1694 for one more year before we have to move away from all single-mode-of-action products in accordance with the EPA mandate,” he says. “Fortunately, we have other great products in the pipeline that should make for a seamless transition for Texas growers when the time comes.”
High-Yield Potential from Southern Soybeans
Except for a few pockets of soybeans in northern Texas that are double cropped behind wheat, there aren’t many soybeans planted in Texas. But Jason says there’s a definite trend across the rest of his territory. “The XtendFlex® trait platform dominates,” he says. “We just launched a very robust class of new XtendFlex® products that we’re trialing this year, and we have several tried-and-true XtendFlex products that span maturity groups across the South.”
- For southern Louisiana’s sugar cane rotation market, Jason says that NK43-Y9XFS brand is a popular product that offers tremendous yield potential. Across the state, he says that farmers opted for soybeans in the late-3 to early-4 maturity group and were able to plant many of these by early to mid-April this year.
- Throughout northern Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta, he says that NK brand S49-F5X brand has a very solid agronomic package and high yield potential. “It’s been a very sturdy and reliable product across very diverse conditions for the last three or four years,” according to Jason. He notes that NK44-J4XFS brand is a good option for growers who want to be on the earlier side of maturity. This variety features proven genetics that deliver top-end yield potential.
Moving north into maturity group 5 in northern Mississippi and Alabama, Jason is excited to see NK Seeds enhance its group 5 portfolio with three new launches being trialed this growing season. This will offer even more choices to a lineup that already includes soybeans in up to a late 6.0 maturity group.
“Agronomically, the NK soybean portfolio offers a very good disease package, including our new Root Knot Nematode-resistant varieties,” he says. “We offer varieties with good stress tolerance for dryland acres, where farmers are typically in the 40-to-50-bushel range, as well as varieties for the highly productive irrigated acres, where we can get into the high 90- or 100-bushel yields.”
A Time for Optimism
Jason says that the farmers he’s talked to are optimistic despite industry volatility. Since 2023 is shaping up to be a lighter-than-usual cotton year, he expects to see an uptick of soybean acres in Mississippi and corn acres in Louisiana. “Growers have a lot to process, and many are still deciding not only what products to plant but what crops to grow,” he says. “No matter what 2023 brings, NK Seeds is confident but humble. We will be there, actively engaged and ready to support farmers from the farm gate to the retailer’s door.”
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