Syngenta Thrive

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Many factors motivate farmers to achieve higher yields. Some growers want to fulfill their family’s legacy, while others aspire to stay profitable and reap the benefits of their hard work. But sometimes, good old-fashioned friendly competition is the incentive farmers need to produce higher-yielding soybeans.

Each year, the North Carolina Soybean Yield Contest gives participating growers the drive to earn top-producer bragging rights. It also provides fascinating data that can enable all soybean growers to boost their crops’ productivity.

Rachel Vann, Ph.D., assistant professor and soybean Extension specialist in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at North Carolina State University (NCSU), is one of the researchers gathering essential intel on soybean yield and a contest administrator. “Since we collect so much management information through the contest, we are able to identify trends that will benefit all growers,” she says.

Joining Vann as a longtime contest administrator is Jim Dunphy, Ph.D., retired Extension soybean expert and professor emeritus of soybean production & management at NCSU. This annual endeavor is a group effort with North Carolina Cooperative Extension Agents measuring yield contest entries at the local level and the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association (NCSPA) providing prizes for the winners.

Any grower in North Carolina with three or more contiguous acres of soybeans is eligible to enter the contest. There are several prize categories, and cash winnings range from $100 for a regional yield award to $1,000 for the top state champion.

When entering the contest, growers are asked to provide their production practices associated with the entered acres, which is the data Vann and her team use to help determine what best practices provide the highest yields.

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The idea of using producer-derived data to leverage something already going on provides a broader educational value. Almost as valuable as seeing what works is understanding what doesn’t when it comes to strongly predicting high yield. By focusing on the most important variables, we can take a deeper dive into what truly impacts yields.

Rachel Vann, Ph.D. Assistant Professor and Soybean Extension Specialist at North Carolina State University

High Yield Predictors

Maximizing the value of contest data is an ongoing goal for Vann. “When I came to this position five years ago, we had a large database of information for reference,” she says. “But there had not been any effort to dive into that database to get what educational value could be gleaned for the broader grower base.”

Vann and her colleague, Katherine Drake-Stowe, now the director of the U.S. Soybean Research Collaborative, decided to undertake this challenge by reviewing 18 years of yield contest data from 877 entries.

“We wanted to identify those production practices that were strong and consistent predictors of high yield in North Carolina soybeans,” Vann says. “We looked at 12 to 15 management practices and conducted a statistical analysis to determine which practices had the strongest impact on yield.”

The most impactful practices noted in her team’s report are as follows:

  • Maturity group. The contest data shows that planting an earlier-maturing variety (<MG5), especially in high-yielding environments, increases soybean yields. However, Vann advises against taking a blanket approach when selecting maturity groups because of North Carolina’s rotational complexity, soil type variability and inconsistent annual weather patterns, which oftentimes necessitate growers selecting a wide range of maturity groups. Nonetheless, using earlier maturing varieties optimizes yield in situations with optimal production capacity and limited stress.
  • Foliar fungicides. The data clearly shows that the use of foliar fungicides can increase soybean yields because they reduce yield loss from diseases. At the beginning of the period in this analysis (around 2002) there was very little use of fungicides to control foliar disease in North Carolina soybean production. This information shows that foliar diseases need to be aggressively managed to prevent yield loss in North Carolina, and that can be done through selecting resistant varieties, scouting for foliar diseases and rotating fungicides with different chemical modes of action.
  • Planting date. While the exact timing varies by region across the state, the contest data shows that earlier planting dates consistently increase soybean yields. “Our data verifies that planting earlier, before mid-May, is an important practice, particularly in high-yielding situations,” Vann says.
  • Herbicide use. The data also shows that more frequent herbicide applications resulted in higher soybean yields. The report adds that a robust, “multifaceted approach to chemical weed management is often necessary to protect soybean yield.”

Vann states that while some production practices won’t be relevant to every farmer across the country, the data collection and subsequent evaluation may be something all can contemplate.

“The idea of using producer-derived data to leverage something already going on provides a broader educational value,” she says. “Almost as valuable as seeing what works is understanding what doesn’t when it comes to strongly predicting high yield. By focusing on the most important variables, we can take a deeper dive into what truly impacts yields.”

Additional Resources for Achieving High Yields

Check out these links for more information on the North Carolina Soybean Yield Contest and Vann’s research and data analysis.

Find out how increasing yields with the right crop protection input can maximize your return on investment — whether you grow corn, soybeans or both.

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When you’re a grower, you know challenges are a part of life — especially when you’ve been in the profession for decades. From drought-stricken seasons to uncertain economic times, two row crop growers from different regions of the country have seen it all.

Davie Stephens from Clinton, Kentucky grows corn and soybeans in Western Kentucky and Northwest Tennessee. He graduated college from the University of Kentucky with a degree in agricultural economics. After graduation, he returned to Western Kentucky where he purchased his first farm and learned firsthand how to succeed as a grower. Thirty-five years later, he makes passing along his knowledge to others a top priority.

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I started with Trivapro the year it came out, and I’ve used it every year on every acre since. You get better plant health; and yield-wise, you can always see a 10-to-15-bushel-per-acre bump on corn.

Arlis Eitzmann Seed Manager at Aurora Co-op and Nebraska Grower

“I have always enjoyed getting involved with the community, whether I’m serving on the fair board or talking with young farmers,” says Stephens, who is also a member of the Kentucky Soybean Association and the American Soybean Association. “That’s something that has been important to me in my career — having conversations with different farmers on how to move agriculture forward for future generations.”

Nebraska native Arlis Eitzmann shares Stephens’ lifelong passion for agriculture. Currently living and working in Byron as a seed manager for Aurora Co-op, Eitzmann also grows corn on his own farm. Even before he started his profession as a seed salesman and raised hogs in the 1980s, farming was in his blood.

“I like to see things grow and watch the seed work, knowing that I have made the right recommendations for my customers’ crops and my own,” says Eitzmann. “It’s a pretty good life.”

A Seasoned Staple

As experienced growers, both Stephens and Eitzmann are constantly looking for innovative ways to improve their operations. But once they find a product that performs well, they’re hooked. Trivapro® corn fungicide is one of those products. Since its launch in 2016, Trivapro has helped safeguard growers’ yield potential and plant health from disease and stressful environmental conditions.

“I started with Trivapro the year it came out, and I’ve used it every year on every acre since,” says Eitzmann. “You get better plant health; and yield-wise, you can always see a 10-to-15-bushel-per-acre bump on corn.”

As a Syngenta Cleaner & Greener fungicide, Trivapro contains SOLATENOL®  technology. In addition to offering powerful disease control, this unique active ingredient boosts plant health by helping improve light absorption, water conservation and harvest efficiency for even greater potential yield gain and return on investment. Even in drought-ridden seasons like this one, Trivapro has become a necessary investment for these two growers to help protect yield potential.

“We experienced a drought in 2022, and we decided to do a test of Trivapro to monitor how healthy it kept the plants,” says Stephens. “The stalk health really caught my eye more than anything, and when the guys were in the combine harvesting those fields, they were really impressed with the way they yielded.”

In fact, years of data show that Trivapro works harder and lasts longer to help growers yield stronger with reliable results. In both wet and dry conditions, Trivapro delivers an average yield increase of 17.2 bushels per acre (bu/A) in wet seasons and 14.1 bu/A in drought over an untreated check.1 This consistency of high performance is what won over Stephens.

“Trivapro is just a great chemistry,” says Stephens. “It’s nice to go to bed at night, knowing you’ve got that longevity and that Trivapro is doing its due diligence.”

Moving Farming Forward

With decades of combined experience behind them and more seasons on the horizon, Stephens and Eitzmann have a lot to give to the next generation of growers, but acknowledge they still benefit from a steady stream of know-how and support from their fellow farmers — especially during challenging times.

“I always tell younger farmers to hang on and things will get better,” says Eitzmann.

Stephens agrees and counsels his less experienced counterparts to “take advice from people who have gone through different things, whether it’s something with the crop, droughts or high interest rates. The farm doesn’t exist without good community involvement — farmers helping farmers.”

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1Syngenta on-farm, large strip trials. 2020 trial locations: IA (2), IL (33), IN (6), NE (6), OH (13), WI (11) and SD (26). 2021 trial locations: IL (35), IN (9), WI (7) and SD (13).

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Farmers expect clean fields when they invest in a herbicide program. Still, nearly 40% of growers say Palmer amaranth and waterhemp are difficult to control with current preemergence corn herbicides.1 This challenge — and its potential impact on yield — led to the development of Storen™ corn herbicide, recently registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Storen is specifically designed for growers looking for next-level performance. It helps prevent or eliminate weeds through its powerful combination of four active ingredients that deliver maximum residual and long-lasting, consistent performance.

The formulation of the key active ingredients in Storen — bicyclopyrone, mesotrione, S-metolachlor and pyroxasulfone — provides residual that could last up to three weeks longer than other leading corn herbicides.2 This control can lead to clean rows and clear results by reducing weed escapes, resprays, weed interference and weed seed produced for future years.

Labeled for preemergence and post-emergence in field and seed corn, Storen controls* up to 74 weed species, including stubborn Palmer amaranth, waterhemp, kochia, common lambsquarters, morning glory, giant ragweed, common ragweed and annual grasses.

Contact your local Syngenta rep to see Storen in field trials. For more information about Storen, visit StorenWontQuit.com.

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1Syngenta market research, 2022. n=302.

2Storen length-of-control advantage based on 2022 Syngenta and university replicated trials comparing Storen to Resicore® and TriVolt™. Data source: 2022; HBI008A4-2022US. Weeks delivering 90% weed control.

*Control or partial control. See label for details.

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Chad and Darin Ratermann of Ratermann Brothers’ Grain and Livestock were young when they took over the family farming operation after their dad passed away; Chad was only 24 and Darin was only 18. Their operation is in Bartelso, Illinois, where they grow wheat, corn and soybeans. They also finish hogs and feed Holstein steers for market.

While starting so young was challenging, the support of their friends and neighbors helped them build a strong business. “We had a lot of good people that put trust in us which gave us different opportunities to grow,” says Chad Ratermann. “Early on, Syngenta became one of those partners for us.”

Every day, Syngenta employees work hard to earn the right to call themselves trusted partners, so it isn’t surprising that Craig Abell, national executive agronomist with Syngenta, did just that with the Ratermanns. Abell works closely with the Ratermanns to get them the most out of every acre in their operation.

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I’m impressed by how reliable Syngenta’s products and services are. Craig Abell and the dealers always take care of us and get products to us in a timely manner. It’s a good fit for our operation.

Chad Ratermann Ratermann Brothers’ Grain and Livestock

Abell and Chad first met at the National Farm Machinery Show where Abell built a management program for the Ratermanns’ operation of crop protection products from Syngenta. “Now, we always use Syngenta’s fungicide and insecticide programs on our soybeans,” Chad says. “I’m impressed by how reliable Syngenta’s products and services are. Craig Abell and the dealers always take care of us and get products to us in a timely manner. It’s a good fit for our operation.”

Chad credits his close partnership with Abell as a key part of his success. “When it’s time to order seeds, he usually rides with me in the combine and we discuss hybrids,” he says. “We speak a couple times a month on different topics in the industry and he’s really helpful with placing the seed orders. He’s just a good person to talk to, and it seems like he’s got a lot of the same interests as we do.”

Chad finds the confidence Syngenta has in their own products reassuring. He participates in the AgriClime™ program, which helps growers offset the risk of bad weather. “That’s telling me that they’re confident enough in their product that they can offer a weather protection program,” he says.

A strong, broad seed portfolio is important for the Ratermanns as they have acres in various counties, each with their own unique challenges. “We cover a pretty wide variety of different soil types, regions and weather patterns in the area we farm in,” Chad says. “We’ve always had very good yield results with Syngenta seeds. I’m not scared to put them up against any other hybrid or any other variety that I plant. I know I’m going to get an equal or better result out of it.”

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Chad is most impressed with the performance of Enogen® corn hybrids. He has consistently grown Enogen corn for cattle feed and fuel production. “We put it in our livestock silage and our high-moisture corn for our feeding feedlots,” he says. “Enogen corn gives a better feed efficiency in the cattle.”

Aside from their business relationship, Chad and Abell have developed a solid friendship. This past February at the Syngenta-sponsored Championship Tractor Pull at the National Farm Machinery Show, the Ratermanns competed in the 9,500lb limited pro stock tractor category. With Darin in the driver’s seat of their tractor, Full Boar, the brothers took home first place. Abell insisted on congratulating his friend on the track and helped present the first-place trophy. “That was a moment I’ll never forget, and it meant a lot to us,” Chad says.

Ratermann continues working closely with Abell and trusting Syngenta products. “We gained a real good relationship meeting Craig. I always feel like it’s a good quality product going in the ground.”

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Numerous top ag schools are also land-grant universities, meaning their purpose is for their graduates to support local communities.

From Ivy League to state schools, there are opportunities for everyone in ag.
Many historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were founded to support agriculture education; several HBCUs still drive that mission forward.

Higher education programs in food, agriculture and the environment are evolving as fast as the industry itself, and college students have a variety of agriculture majors from which to choose. More than 800,000 students participate in agricultural education instructional programs from grade seven through college in the U.S. and its territories, according to the National FFA Organization. The options are encouraging and overwhelming.

Anna Ball, associate dean for academic programs in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, encourages students to think about their own strengths and passions as they navigate prospective programs and careers.

“Holistically, I think that many of our students want to feed and save the world,” Ball says. “But then it’s about narrowing it down. In what ways do you want to save the world? In what ways do you want to make a difference? Match these answers with the majors that will help you carve out the difference you want to make.”

Choosing a college and major aligned with your goals is an important step in mapping out a career. This list from Niche ranks the traditional top 10 ag universities in the U.S. along with each school’s program offerings. Additionally, check out the spotlight on the top five HBCUs for ag programs.

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Holistically, I think that many of our students want to feed and save the world. But then it’s about narrowing it down. In what ways do you want to save the world? In what ways do you want to make a difference? Match these answers with the majors that will help you carve out the difference you want to make.

Anna Ball Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Traditional Top 10 Ag Programs

  1. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
    As one of the eight Ivy League schools, Cornell University is home to a world-class College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, which includes 22 undergraduate majors and 40 minors. Students can personalize their program and pursue a variety of traditional and emerging career tracks, such as sustainability.
  2. Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
    The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences offers undergraduate majors such as animal science and bioenvironmental science, along with social science disciplines like agricultural communications and journalism.
  3. University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
    The University of Georgia’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES) is known for its entomology program offerings and study abroad opportunities in 15 different countries. It’s been ranked second in the U.S. regarding best agricultural and horticultural plant breeding colleges, making it an excellent choice for students interested in horticulture.
  4. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
    Students looking to attend college in the sunshine state should consider the University of Florida’s (UF) College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. With 22 undergraduate majors and 42 specializations to choose from, UF offers undergrads an online quiz to discover which major may be a good fit for their career goals.
  5. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
    North Carolina State University’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences is a great school for those interested in pursuing a career to tackle the challenges surrounding food, agriculture, energy and the environment. Founded as a land-grant institution grounded in agriculture and engineering, NC State’s purpose is providing educational programs to improve communities within the state. Students participate in cutting-edge research and apply it to real-world issues across the state.
  6. University of California, Davis, Davis, California
    The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) has an international research reputation and offers 27 majors and 40 minors. This program supports undergrads exploring their future majors and careers through Career Discovery Groups, which show first-year students they aren’t alone in searching for an exciting ag career.
  7. The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
    The College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences offers 21 majors and related specializations, such as ag communications and community leadership, to prepare students for careers in the industry.
  8. University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
    The College of Agricultural Life Sciences (CALS) is part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M), both the flagship and land-grant University of Wisconsin. Aspiring ag professionals are sure to find a discipline that meets their goals within the 16 academic departments, 23 undergraduate majors and 47 graduate programs. UW-M prioritizes financial support for students. In the 2020-2021 academic year, the average scholarship award for CALS degree students was $1,886, and the overall awarded scholarship amount was $1,027,914.
  9. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois
    The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) boasts a 94% first destination secured rate among graduates and $3.5 million awarded in scholarships each year. In addition to job security and educational funding opportunities, ACES offers experiential learning, which 80% of students participate in throughout their degree program. “We’re equipping our students to be citizens of a global society and enter careers that support agriculture, food and environmental systems internationally. Roughly 40% of our students have some sort of global experience — we would love for it to be 100%, that’s the goal,” Ball says. “In addition to a world-class experience in their major, we engage our students in leadership enrichment experiences throughout their time here to become future leaders and change-makers in the agricultural industry.”
  10. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma
    The Ferguson College of Agriculture at Oklahoma State University is a public land-grant school that offers 16 different undergraduate major programs and more than 50 study options for agriculture students. For students who are interested in biosystems engineering degree programs, Ferguson provides this option through a partnership with the Oklahoma State University College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology.

Jeff Baker, a Syngenta crop protection talent acquisition leader for Syngenta North America, suggests students also seek valuable experience through extracurricular activities and internships to develop their career path and network. These pursuits and networks can ultimately help students secure employment upon graduation.

“We love seeing the students learn how to connect with folks outside of school within the agricultural industry,” Baker says. “Building your professional network is important.”

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Top Historically Black Colleges and Universities Ag Programs

Since the early 19th century, HBCUs have provided distinct opportunities for students of color.

Many HBCUs were founded as agricultural and engineering institutions but later expanded their academic disciplines. Today, there are still several HBCUs with strong agricultural programs for students looking to pursue their education in a diverse environment.

HBCU agricultural programs often partner with leading ag industry companies, such as Syngenta, to connect students with learning and professional opportunities.

“At our crop protection North America headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina, we have an outstanding relationship with NC A&T,” Baker says. “We hire a number of their graduates, as well as interns for our summer opportunities. NC A&T is an outstanding agricultural and technical college. Also, we’re very involved with Florida A&M, which is a national land-grant institution, so we are very active with their education and career development.”

According to The Edvocate, these are the top HBCUs for agriculture degree programs, all of which are national land-grant funded universities.

  1. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), Tallahassee, FloridaEstablished in 1891, the College of Agriculture and Food Sciences (CAFS) offers nine undergraduate degree programs and five graduate programs across agriculture, food, animal and environmental sciences. There are opportunities for students to make respected contributions to ag research and gain real-world experience along with their education.
  2. Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AlabamaFounded in 1881, Tuskegee University has a rich history in educating future agriculture professionals. The College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences offers three major disciplines for undergraduate studies with multiple concentrations. Graduate studies consist of five masters-level and three doctorate-level degree programs. Students can immerse themselves in world-class agriculture research.
  3. North Carolina A&T University, Greensboro, North CarolinaThe College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES) tackles challenges like feeding a global population and protecting the environment. The department offers nine undergraduate degrees and four graduate degrees. With 1,064 enrolled students, CAES is the largest agricultural school among the 1890 Land Grant Universities. NC A&T’s CAES currently holds 11 patents and 421 publications in refereed journals, making it a leader in ag innovation and research.
  4. Alcorn State University, Lorman, MississippiThe School of Agriculture and Applied Sciences offers undergraduate and graduate programs in agribusiness, animal science and environmental science. With a focus on professional development and experiential learning opportunities, this ag program offers internship programs and partnerships among private companies and government agencies like Cargill, John Deere, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and more.
  5. Southern University, Baton Rouge, LouisianaThe College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences (CAFCS) offers a Bachelor of Science degree across five concentrations, including ag economics, ag business, animal science, plant and soil science and pre-veterinary medicine. Furthermore, the Department of Agriculture Sciences offers the Chancellor’s Academic Apprenticeship Program, which awards students financial support through paid assistantships and opportunities for research participation with an assigned senior faculty mentor.

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The theme of this year’s Soil and Water Conservation Society conference — which took place from August 6 to 9 in Des Moines, Iowa — was, “Healthy Land, Clean Water: Cultivating a Legacy of Conservation.”

Syngenta proudly sponsors the conference each year, sharing the belief that the key to sustainable farming is building partnerships, initiatives and practices that encourage the local ecosystems and hardy working lands.

Farmers already have a heavy load on their shoulders. They’re the backbone of our food production system and the lifeline of our society. Among the many challenges they face is preserving and revitalizing the country’s land and waterways. Sustainable farming practices ensure future generations continue producing food for tables around the world.

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To us, healthy land is both productive and resilient. To ensure that our soil and water remain healthy for the next generation, we continue identifying solutions that help growers retain, or even exceed, current yields.

Dayna Gross Manager of programs and partnerships for North America Sustainability, Syngenta

Dayna Gross, manager of programs and partnerships for North America Sustainability at Syngenta, pairs her passion for sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation with decades of experience. “To us, healthy land is both productive and resilient,” she says. “To ensure that our soil and water remain healthy for the next generation, we continue identifying solutions that help growers retain, or even exceed, current yields.”

Sustainable practices help keep farmers profitable while meeting society’s needs.

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“In my role, I have a front row seat to see how Syngenta puts the ideals of preserving the environment into practice,” Gross says. This includes supporting a Pheasants Forever program incentivizing growers to convert portions of land into habitats for birds and pollinators. “We’ve used a similar concept for other projects and partnered with the J.R. Simplot Company to turn marginal acres into beneficial insect habitats near potato fields,” Gross says. “And, in collaboration with the Sand County Foundation, we support a conservation payment program that helps growers improve the water quality within their watershed.”

To learn more about conversation practices and partnerships, and to access educational resources, please visit www.BeeHealth.org.

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A partnership between Syngenta, the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) and the California Rice Commission (CRC) was forged to address the decline of California’s native fish by working to restore their habitats. Most of these species use floodplains in the Central Valley as a habitat during their outmigration. The partnership project focuses on the floodplains of the Sacramento River within the Sutter and Yolo Bypasses. These bypasses can be used to farm rice in the summer, and for flood control and ecosystems in the winter.

“Syngenta is pleased to have supported this project from its early stages. We have worked with the California rice industry for many years, and this was an outgrowth of our longstanding relationship and shared focus on environmental performance,” says Ben Sacher, lead, state affairs at Syngenta. “This project changes the narrative around the role that productive agriculture has in achieving environmental outcomes. It creates a positive impact on the salmon, and a new opportunity for the rice industry to deliver environmental benefits alongside its crop. This is a powerful example of how agricultural groups, non-profits and companies like Syngenta can work on important challenges.”

Q. What happened to the salmon habitats in California?

A. Andrew L. Rypel, Ph.D., Professor, Peter B. Moyle & California Trout Endowed Chair, Department of Wildlife, Fish & Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis: Salmon are declining for a host of reasons — dams, fishing, water extraction, loss of wetlands, to name a few. We are collaborating to get more salmon on the landscape as the loss of salmon is bad for everyone. Forest ecosystems in the spawning grounds get shut off from marine-derived nitrogen that salmon brings. Indigenous communities lose nutritious food and a sacred animal from the landscape. California fishing communities lose a source of revenue, and businesses, including farms, get mired in environmental regulations. Our work shows how winter-flooded rice fields can be used to expand habitats to juvenile salmon; rice growers are a major part of the solution to save salmon. Ninety-five percent of the historical floodplain was eliminated in California, yet there are 500,000 acres of rice fields. We are thinking creatively to use these lands to mimic the historical floodplains. This project shows how farms, ecosystems and flood control work together for a common good.

A. Paul Buttner, Manager of Environmental Affairs, California Rice Commission (CRC): Growth rates of baby salmon placed into winter-flooded rice fields are proven notable due to significant amounts of zooplankton, the natural food source baby salmon rely on. We hope to develop a management practice to extend the period when threatened runs of salmon can benefit from these fields, increase the habitat quality and enable the fish to willingly enter/exit the fields. There are many technical challenges that are being addressed through pilot-scale implementation and adaptive management over a period of years.

Q. What is your organization’s role in the project and why did you choose to get involved?

A. Rypel: It takes science, hard work and collaboration to get the pieces in place so we can move forward. We are finding ways to get the salmon on the fields, have them rear and get safely out. Our UC Davis team works on questions like how to drill holes and notches in rice boards to allow fish safe passage. We’ve done fish tracking studies and piloted technology and web applications to measure dissolved oxygen in real time and transmit those data into a website so managers can monitor temperature and oxygen conditions in the fields. If fields begin to develop harmful conditions, we have protocols to pull the boards and evacuate the fish. We are researching to show that this practice benefits the fish. These issues are important when you are working with an endangered species.

A. Buttner: The California rice industry is known as the Environmental Crop due in part to the focus on providing habitat enhancement for wetland-dependent species in the Pacific Flyway. CRC decided to work on using rice fields to help salmon recovery after early scientific work by California Trout (CalTrout) and UC Davis demonstrated that the reactivation of the historic floodplain is a vital element to salmon recovery and may be suited to provide a high-quality habitat for salmon.

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This project changes the narrative around the role that productive agriculture has in achieving environmental outcomes. It creates a positive impact on the salmon, and a new opportunity for the rice industry to deliver environmental benefits alongside its crop. This is a powerful example of how agricultural groups, non-profits and companies like Syngenta can work on important challenges.

Ben Sacher Syngenta State Affairs Lead

Q. How do your organizations collaborate on the project?

A. Rypel: It takes a village. The CRC has had major success with conservation programs and with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). They know the growers and their issues and economics. We identify critical science needs and design studies to answer key questions. This is important when we work through concerns from regulatory and resource agencies. UC Davis students are engaged in the work; we are training the next generation to solve problems that are collaborative, innovative and community-oriented. NRCS helped start this program and addresses concerns as they arise. Our agency partners are generous and patient — they help us see the regulatory side and provide insight into their stakeholder concerns and public mandates. Some agencies have their own scientists who help us. None of this is possible without partnerships with private industry — including the rice growers and sponsors like Syngenta. I give Syngenta a lot of credit for having the vision to see what we are trying to achieve. It is probably the most exciting science project I have ever been a part of, and the support of our project sponsors, especially Syngenta, continues to enable that.

A. Buttner: CRC is leading the overall effort with the centerpiece being two grants provided to CRC by the NRCS, which committed nearly $1.2 million. This funding requires 1:1 matching partner contributions in the form of in-kind technical assistance and/or financial contributions. This is where Syngenta’s commitment comes in as they contributed about half of these required matching funds or about 25% of the total project costs thus far. This major contribution, combined with others (see: Salmon.CalRice.org), enabled CRC to move forward.

Q. Why are stewardship projects, in general, important for organizations, universities and companies to get involved in?

A. Rypel: Humans have a major impact on ecosystems, and we need to accept that humans are mostly in charge. This leads to some interesting places, like thinking through the kinds of ecosystem services we value and exploring ways to harmonize farming with ecosystems. That’s the future, and the kind of work we should do more of. Having institutions with diverse missions collaborate toward these solutions is exciting, and I am proud to be part of it.

A. Buttner: We know the potential for rice to provide significant environmental benefits and be an important food source. Our growers participate by implementing stewardship practices on their farms. Often the costs are shared by the beneficiaries of these positive outcomes through the Farm Bill Conservation Title and other state and federal programs.

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Q. What do you hope to achieve at the end of this habitat restoration project?

A. Rypel: We are aiming for a conservation practice for NRCS that incentivizes rice growers to participate in salmon conservation. I hope we boost the salmon populations as they are some of the most interesting and important animals in California, and on Earth. They deserve saving.

A. Buttner: We hope to have a proven program option our growers can enroll in to provide a high-quality salmon habitat for struggling salmon runs in the Sacramento Valley. This would be a great complementary program to our many existing programs that offer management practices to benefit waterbirds, which are also highly reliant upon California rice fields.

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Impactful innovation doesn’t occur in a vacuum, and partnerships between industry and academia lead to big advances. That’s why Syngenta collaborates with universities to trial its new chemistries, study existing chemistries, talk with growers at field days, and, of course, hire excellent students produced by top ag universities.

Great Chemistry Together

John C. Palumbo, Ph.D., extension entomologist at the University of Arizona, has partnered with Syngenta for decades. “I have always looked at new chemistry for Syngenta, and I have been fortunate that they are always bringing new products along the way,” Palumbo says. “They completely support my research, they share their expertise, information, and provide as much as they can in the compounds, formulations and rates. I always feel in-the-know,” he says.

That partnership helped Syngenta with its development of products having new modes of action, such as the coming-soon PLINAZOLIN® technology, currently under registration review by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). For more than six years, Palumbo worked with the Syngenta team, including Elijah Meck, Ph.D., technical product lead at Syngenta, to help develop this technology.

“It will be a new mode of action in the foliar space that will control many different insects and mites and will help manage resistance,” Meck says.

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Meck writes trial protocols and works with local Syngenta R&D scientists who send the protocols to university partners to begin research — but that’s only the beginning. The trials rigorously test chemistries for the safety and efficacy of crops. “I will visit trial sites to get perspective on how our products are performing,” Meck says. “I ask a lot of questions: Did they observe anything new or unusual? How is the product performing in their view? How might it fit in the marketplace with other available products?”

Meck says partnerships between industry and universities also benefit growers in terms of the insights they gain about practical successes and challenges. “We want good relationships with universities and extension services and want their honesty about what our products can and can’t do. Growers are better served when they understand all these things.”

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I have always looked at new chemistry for Syngenta, and I have been fortunate that they are always bringing new products along the way. They completely support my research, they share their expertise, information, and provide as much as they can in the compounds, formulations and rates. I always feel in-the-know.

John C. Palumbo, Ph.D. Extension Entomologist, University of Arizona

Future Generations

Aaron Hager, Ph.D., extension weed scientist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, dedicates his time to helping farmers manage weeds, examining herbicide application programs in the field and advising masters- and Ph.D.-level students. He has professional relationships with some Syngenta employees dating from when they were in college together. In 2009, he received a question from one of them about a photo of a waterhemp plant uninjured from a postemergence herbicide. “I ended up visiting the field with Syngenta and agreed there was something going on there,” Hager says. “This became the first instance in the world of confirmed resistance to HPPD inhibitors. When UI weed scientists brought our data to Syngenta, they funded our work with the largest single grant in the history of the University of Illinois weed science program.”

Hager says the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has been turning students into weed science professionals since the 1950s. His and his peers’ goal is to provide a well-rounded experience for students, preparing them for their future roles in the ag industry.

Seth Strom is a Syngenta field R&D scientist in Monticello, Illinois. Hager was Strom’s Ph.D. advisor and, along with his co-advisors, is who Strom credits with molding him into a well-rounded weed scientist. Strom’s dissertation was a collaborative project with Syngenta, but working in field trials sponsored by different agricultural companies gave him a broad view of the weed science world. Strom also met different people and saw their various scientific approaches at the professional meetings Hager encouraged him to attend. “I’m still applying that knowledge to my current role as a field rep,” Strom says. “That base was really helpful, and accepting a position with Syngenta was like going home for me.”

Syngenta agronomy service representative Kevin Scholl earned both a bachelor’s degree in ag business and a master’s degree in crop science/agronomy from the University of Illinois. Now Scholl uses information from university extension to guide his customers’ decisions about herbicide selection, application and weed resistance management. “They’re a really valuable resource for the state and our customers,” Scholl says.

Supportive Partners

Syngenta finds another opportunity for university collaboration through funding endowments such as the Janis McFarland CERSA Internship Endowment at North Carolina State University. The endowment supports undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), helping them gain real-world internship experience in the crop science regulatory field.

There’s no shortage of partnership opportunities, and no limit on how they impact future agricultural innovations.

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This summer, Syngenta returns to Farm Progress Show, Aug. 29 to 31 in Decatur, Illinois, and Husker Harvest Days, Sept. 12 to 14 in Grand Island, Nebraska. The Syngenta experience connects a wide portfolio of seed and crop protection products and agronomic insights with growers, retailers and others in the ag industry. Syngenta booth visitors can chat with experts about their biggest concerns this season – and have a lot of fun in the process.

The ultra-informative Agronomy Bar is returning this year, with Syngenta Agronomic Service Representatives (ASRs) available for in-depth discussions on the weeds, pests and diseases threatening corn, soybeans and other crops. The Agronomy Bar will host live, scheduled demonstrations and “Ask an Agronomist” opportunities.

The Agronomy Bar also features a trivia game for the chance to win fun prizes like corn- and soybean-themed socks and drink tickets for Syngenta Square, the show’s beer garden*. This game challenges visitors to explore top Syngenta products, discuss issues with ASRs and learn more about current agronomic challenges.

Top Syngenta brands and their capabilities will be represented throughout the booth. A live plant demonstration will showcase Tendovo® soybean herbicide in action. Visitors will see the difference in pest control between DuracadeViptera™ trait stacks and their competitors in a preserved corn trial. The Storen™ corn herbicide patio will be the 2023 highlight of the booth. Syngenta announced Storen, its newest corn herbicide, at Commodity Classic in March 2023. The key features of Storen will be highlighted with a live plant display and other demonstrations. Other featured brands include:

  • Syngenta Digital and AgriEdge® dedicated agribusiness partnership
  • Acuron® and Acuron GT corn herbicides
  • CruiserMaxx® APX and Saltro® seed treatments
  • NK Seeds 20 NK® corn hybrids, our most thoroughly tested class yet, and soybean varieties featuring genetics with a high yield potential
  • Miravis® Ace, Miravis Top, Miravis Neo and Trivapro® fungicides

 

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When it’s time for a break from all the ag action, head to Syngenta Square for a cold drink and live music**. This year, the Better Yield is the Better Deal™ lineup of products is taking over the square with even more ways to unwind.

Exclusive to Farm Progress Show, CruiserMaxx APX will challenge common seed treatment myths with a surprise special guest.

There’s a lot to do and see, so plan your visit by following Syngenta US on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Find out where else to visit Syngenta this year.

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Halfway through a long day of driving, I pulled off the interstate and into a Wendy’s parking lot. I didn’t plan to take the time to sit down and eat my value menu feast, but since the drive-thru line was pretty long, I parked and walked to the front door.

Locked.

Taped to the door, a sheet of white printer paper informed me, in a no-frills font, that: “Due to an employee shortage, our dining room is currently closed. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you for your patronage.”

Huh.

After taking a beat or two to process the information, I got back in my car, waited in the drive-thru line, got my lunch, and steered back onto the interstate, wondering again at the phenomenon of America’s current labor shortage. Blame it on what you will, it’s tough to find an industry that hasn’t been affected by a lack of willing and capable employees. And this has been made particularly evident in the world of agriculture.

Higher Wages, Fewer Workers

Talk to anybody running a farm or ranch in the United States right now, and odds are they’ll tell you how challenging it is to find and hire reliable workers. Even once you manage to find someone who’s a good fit, that help comes at a steeper cost than ever before. Data gathered by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) in its most recent Farm Labor Survey shows that wages for non-supervisory ag workers rose at an average of 1.2 percent annually from 1990 to 2021. Over the past five years, however, wages increased by 2.5 percent per year.

According to the NASS report released May 24, 2023, American farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $18.08 per hour during the April 2023 reference week – up 5 percent from the same period in 2022. Field workers earned an average of $17.26 per hour, up 5 percent. Livestock workers made $16.48 per hour, up 4 percent.

All those numbers back up the anecdotal evidence from growers that farm workers are getting harder and harder to find and hire.

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It’s difficult to deal with securing labor. With the minimum wage increases in the United States in recent years, more people have decided to leave skilled labor positions for less physically demanding work. It has shrunk the talent pool for farming operations to hire from.

Brad Stinson Desert Operations Manager, Duda Farm Fresh Foods

Farmers Worry About Labor

It’s no secret that the U.S. provides the most efficient and stable food supply on the world market. But with skilled labor growing ever harder to come by, American producers often wonder how they’re going to keep the pipeline filled.

“It’s difficult to deal with securing labor,” says Brad Stinson, desert operations manager for Duda Farm Fresh Foods, a company with fruit and vegetable production and shipping operations in Florida, California, Arizona, Michigan and Georgia. “With the minimum wage increases in the United States in recent years, more people have decided to leave skilled labor positions for less physically demanding work. It has shrunk the talent pool for farming operations to hire from.”

H-2A Strengthens Labor Force

One very important tool in keeping up a strong ag labor force for Duda, Stinson says, is the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program, often called the H-2A visa program. The H-2A program provides a legal means for agricultural employers to bring foreign-born workers to the U.S. to perform seasonal farm labor. H-2A visas are issued on a temporary basis, for a period of up to 10 months.

While crop farmers can use this program to meet their seasonal labor needs, most livestock producers are not allowed to use the program to meet year-round labor needs. There is, however, an exception made to this restriction for producers of range-grazing livestock, who are allowed to employ H-2A workers year-round. The U.S. Department of Labor’s H-2A website offers guidance for employers in getting started in the H-2A program and finding qualified H-2A workers.

The increased utilization of the H-2A program over the years is one of the most obvious illustrations of a scarcity of farm labor. The number of H-2A positions requested and approved has ballooned more than sevenfold over the past 17 years. According to data from the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS), just over 48,000 H-2A applications were approved in fiscal year 2005, and some 371,000 were granted in fiscal 2022. The average H-2A certification issued in 2022 lasted 5.65 months, implying that the aforementioned 371,000 positions equated to around 175,000 full-year jobs.

“The main benefit of H-2A lies in the core of the program,” says Stinson. “And that is simply being able to secure qualified laborers to ensure a timely and professional harvest. We have some crews with foremen and harvesters who have been working with us through the H-2A program for over 15 years. Like any business relationship, if there is a mutual respect between employees and management, it is much easier to succeed. We’ve been able to find those relationships.”

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Getting Started With H-2A

To qualify for the H-2A program, employers must demonstrate that their honest efforts to recruit American workers yielded no fruit. They are also required to pay a state-specific minimum wage, which must be at least the average wage paid to crop and livestock workers surveyed in the Farm Labor Survey in that region the year prior. This figure is known as the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR). Additionally, employers are required to provide housing for their H-2A workers and cover their domestic and international transportation.

“With the H-2A program, you can employ and train a crew for a season, and as long as they prove to be dependable workers, you can rehire them each year,” says Stinson. “It allows you to invest your time and knowledge into those people the same as any other job. The only difference is that they require a special visa. It’s actually slightly more expensive in some cases to employ H-2A workers, but the benefit outweighs the cost.”

H-2A Not Without Challenges

Stinson says most of his company’s challenges with the H-2A program fall under the umbrella of logistics. For example, H-2A employees are only allowed to work in a pre-designated state or county during the time of their employment. If an opportunity arises unexpectedly in a region not listed on their H-2A documentation, those workers and employers are not allowed under the law to move their operations.

“We are required to submit those H-2A forms 90 days in advance,” says Stinson. “That requires a lot of planning. Another logistical challenge is securing housing and meals for H-2A laborers, which is mandatory. If a company employing these workers has not built its own housing facility, it would have to coordinate with a local hotel or make some other arrangements to ensure the workers have appropriate housing.”

When all is said and done, though, employing H-2A workers has been a major boon to many American agriculture businesses and to the industry as a whole. H-2A labor has kept the U.S. produce sector humming along despite the labor challenges facing much of the economy.

“You can find H-2A workers driving tractors and laying irrigation pipe, harvesting and packing crops in the field, packing value-added products in processing facilities, and everywhere in between,” says Stinson. “I only see the United States becoming more and more reliant on H-2A labor for agriculture as we continue to expand what it means to be a service economy. I have a tremendous amount of respect for people who choose to work and provide goods to people of another country while supporting their families across the border.”