Field Work host Mitchell Hora visits with us, and big yield gains show up over FIRST program history

FIRST Newsletter | February 2021

08-February-2021 | Issue 10 | www.firstseedtests.com

In This Issue

2021 Program Update

Meet Mitchell Hora — host of the podcast Field Work along with Zach Johnson on Minnesota Public Radio

Have a look at the amazing corn and beans yield gains we've seen over the years leading up to this 25th year of FIRST trials

2021 Program Update

The 2021 season has begun, with entries coming in for corn grain, silage, and soybean trials. Applications to enter are available now, and we ask that they be returned by February 15 for corn and March 1 for soybeans.

Contact FIRST for more information

Figure -- FIRST's history of corn grain yield (bu/ac)

Don't miss the yield trend analysis from the first 24 years of the FIRST program (more below). We've summarized gains in yield that have occurred during our on-farm research, which has grown from 12 Illinois corn sites in 1997 to over 300 plots in 15 states and thousands of products tested in 2020.

This is FIRST's 25th year offering corn and soybean yield performance data from unbiased, accurate research on the performance of America's top seed brands. Join us to see how 2021 plays out!

Meet Mitchell Hora - Host of the Field Work Podcast from American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio

Third season of Field Work available March 2021

@fieldworktalk

We caught up with Mitchell (@Continuum_Ag) as he returned to his Washington, IA home through February snow and ice. Despite the season, he's still spending time on Field Work - the podcast he hosts with Minnesota's Zach Johnson (@farmmillenial). He explained that Minnesota Public Radio brought the pair together to explore changing farm practices in their respective southeast Iowa and central Minnesota areas.

Mitchell's family hosted a FIRST plot for 7 years in the 2000's, and he recalls the "small plot planters and harvesters" visiting for the program. These days he is an entrepreneur and leader in adoption of regenerative field practices, while helping raise about 700 acres of corn and beans with his dad and family.

We talked about the kinds of tools he is developing for producers, and those FIRST provides for seed purchase decisions. Mitchell noted, "the better tools you have going into that initial decision-making process, the better the outcome. And that's where FIRST trials come in. To be able to say, here is not just farmer's intuition and whatever their sales guy is coming to them with, here's an unbiased data source that also needs to be part of the decision-making process."

Seasons 1 and 2 of Field Work can be found at podcast providers now. He said the third season is coming together for release in March. Tune in with us!

"FIRST is that unbiased data source that needs to be part of the decision-making process."

— Mitchell Hora, Iowa producer and agricultural entrepreneur

Look back at the remarkable yield gains in the FIRST program

Corn research plots in FIRST's first 3 years (1997-1999) were all done in Illinois under the direction of Kevin Coey, with expansion to Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in 2000. As of 2021, we've expanded to 16 states, and all 24 years of yield history are used in the analysis that follows.

The increasing yield trend in both corn grain and soybeans is striking (graphs below). Despite adding some lower-yield environments such as the northern plains and dryland Kansas and Nebraska locations, the overall program yields keep marching upward. Corn grain is almost 20% higher (>50 bu/ac) than those early Illinois yields. Soybean yields are more than 15% higher, with around 9 bu/ac gain from the early program, which started in IL, IA, and WI in 2001 and by 2003 included MN, NE, SD, and the Mid-Atlantic.

FIRST Corn grain yield history 1997-2020

Evaluating comparative yield performance

Another interesting summary of yield performance trials was inspired by the BASF agronomy team's recent presentation for the Illinois Soybean Association about key yield factors in soybeans. Looking at variety selection, they showed the difference between the high performers in yield trials compared to the test mean using University of Illinois variety testing data.

In the graphs below, we've done a similar analysis using FIRST data to show the best yield performance and the worst yield performance compared to the test average, where those are averaged across all tests in the year. For Corn Grain, the overall average was 61 bushels difference between the top and bottom performers, which was fairly consistent across our history. For Soybeans, there was almost 18 bushels difference on average.

That's more than a 25% yield advantage for the best performers in both crops.

FIRST Corn grain comparative yield performance history 1997-2020

FIRST Soybean comparative yield performance history 1997-2020

Stay tuned

To celebrate our 25th year, we will continue to share analysis of other factors associated with yield and agronomic performance using detailed FIRST records. To date, there have been more than 900,000 mini-strips planted, maintained, measured at harvest, and reported in the corn grain program, and almost 300,000 in the soybean program.

The work has begun for FIRST's professional Field Managers this season, serving the agricultural industry to increase yield and profitability for American farmers. Thanks for joining us!

Would you like to see the performance of dozens of seed products on YOUR fields?

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Unbiased, Accurate Yield Testing. Every Time.

We welcome your feedback or questions about the FIRST program!

Please contact us at info@firstseedtests.com