2022 FIRST Locations and plot reports, new plot hosts, and more

FIRST Newsletter | June-July 2022

3-July-2022 | Issue 20 | www.firstseedtests.com

In This Issue

Plot reports around FIRST

New plot hosts for 2022 tests

Planting Date Interactive Map and further program info

2022 Program Update

Planting Complete and Plot Reports

The planting season proved long and winding for FIRST managers and farmer members hosting plots this year. The cold spring and frequent rains brought some delays and challenges. FIRST managers worked through travel logistics for their variety of testing locations as weather permitted.

Facing flooding and persistent wet areas, manager Luke Brendemuhl's hosts hit the prevent plant dates and still had wet weather. He could not plant at Fairmount and Hope, ND corn locations in each of the South and Central Red River Valley regions. The Litchville, ND soybean site got rained out on Brendemuhl and the farmer's last planting attempt for that field. Heading back out for stand counts, Brendemuhl said most plots look really good with some harsh winds and rains hurting a couple of locations that will hopefully bounce back.

Besides those 3 plots, the rest of the planned sites were planted between April 24 and June 19 for the 2022 FIRST program.

Minnesota managers Ed Dahle and Mark Querna had a halting season as well, though they pushed through and got all sites planted. Stand counts are complete for all the Minnesota plots, with decent emergence.

Things in northern and western Iowa are looking good so far. Some rains got in the way of soybean herbicide applications that will need to catch up this first week of July. Western Nebraska is quite dry, with a few dryland sites likely having some yield potential reduction already.

St. Joseph, Missouri corn trial, June 28, 2022. Photo courtesy of Bill Schelp, FIRST MSR.

Southern Iowa manager Randy Meinsma reported that the plots are doing pretty well through stand count visits. In Missouri, the corn plots are looking excellent, with a great planting window in May yielding excellent stands, said manager Bill Schelp. Kansas and southern Nebraska manager Adam Stuteville had a cold wet spring turn into a very hot early summer, at least catching up early planted corn on GDU totals.

In Wisconsin and northern Illinois, Jason Beyers said that growing conditions are good in the majority of his area. Emergence is good to excellent almost everywhere. The heat in the early part of June started to stress the corn in several areas, but most people received a much-needed rainfall on June 25. Most corn is at least knee-high and growing fast. Farmers are trying to finish up with the first round of postemergence spray onto soybeans.

While the plots had a decent start in northern Indiana, several plots missed the June 25-26 rains and are starting to be dry, manager Matt Turner noted. The plots are looking better further south in Indiana and southern Illinois. The trials in Pennsylvania are looking good, with central PA hoping for some rain, Rob Kauffman reported.

New FIRST Plot Hosts in 2022

FIRST operates with the help and support of farmer members who host the FIRST trials on their farms. New hosts for the 2022 season are listed here.

FIRST farmer members' dedication, communication, and interest make the FIRST trials possible. FIRST hosts do not receive compensation other than the grain from harvested trials and provide all inputs for the plot according to their normal management practice. They are motivated by insights into seed performance on their farms and to benefit data-driven farm decision makers throughout the corn belt. Tremendous thanks to all of them.

Volunteer to host a plot

2022 FIRST Planting Dates Interactive Map plus updated firstseedtests.com

2022 Planting Date Interactive Map Thumbnail

The 2022 Program is ready for harvest action this fall: locations, regions, and products tested information PDFs are loaded on the homepage of www.firsteedtests.com. Check for updates throughout the fall to see the latest harvest reports.

The planting dates are included in the homepage information, but we've made an interesting interactive look at planting progress as well. It was a somewhat long planting season, and you can see how trips progressed in 2022.

Go to the Interactive Planting Map

Syngenta traits rebranded

Some of the trait packages from Syngenta have been rebranded for the 2023 season. These products will be labeled with the new trait designations in 2022 FIRST tests. The 2022 Program Directory ready in July will have complete information.

See All 2022 FIRST Sponsors

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We welcome your feedback or questions about the FIRST program!

Please contact us at info@firstseedtests.com