Syngenta has introduced a new AgriPro® brand wheat variety for the 2021 spring planting season.
Specifically developed for the Pacific Northwest region, AP Coachman, a soft white spring variety, is widely adaptable across moisture zones and offers good end-use quality. AP Coachman is a medium-height, late-maturity variety that is resistant to Hessian fly. It also features good tolerance to stripe rust.
The location of farmland plays a large role in key agricultural assistance programs that many growers take for granted. If your ability to use farm programs, obtain ag financing and access land were hindered, what would you do? Welcome to the unique challenges that face minority farmers like Ryan Lankford and Christi Bland.
Lankford grew up on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in north-central Montana, home of the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre people. Today, he and his family farm 20,000 acres where they grow spring and winter wheat, barley, chickpeas, canola and other crops near the Bears Paw Mountains. The climate there can make farming very challenging.
“We live on 12 to 14 inches of rain a year,” says Lankford, who noted that the region received only half an inch of rain in 2017. “You try to do everything right, but there’s so much risk when you farm in an arid climate. That’s on top of the land ownership issues we face with the federal government.”
Those land issues are the result of long-standing government policies. Today, Lankford and his family lease the majority of their land from their tribe. Lankford also owns some of his own land. But all of this property is also held in trust by the U.S. government, which in practical terms means that the government must approve all land-use decisions, including leasing and selling.
As we engage farmers and ag industry partners, it’s essential to truly listen to what people are saying.
“Lenders are reluctant to loan money for our farming operation, since land ownership with the government muddies the waters,” Lankford says. “We’ve also missed out on government payments like the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program due to restrictions imposed by our land-ownership situation. It’s a constant battle with government bureaucracy.”
Despite the challenges, Lankford still loves farming. After a stint in the military following 9/11 and earning a civil engineering degree from Montana State University in 2008, he had a realization. “I discovered how much I missed the farm,” Lankford says. “I also realized how serving in the military and farming are a call to service.”
Christi Bland is a fourth-generation farmer from Tunica County, Mississippi, where she raises rice, soybeans, grain sorghum and wheat and is one of only 49,000 Black farmers in America, down from more than 925,000 in 1920. Like Native American farmers, Black farmers have faced historical challenges in agriculture.
“One of the challenges that Black farmers have faced historically is discrimination from the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] when it came to lending practices, and having to worry about if their land was going to be taken,” Bland says. In the past, many Black farmers handed down land informally without a will and testament. Instead, the land was shared between the heirs rather than being split up. Without the traditional legal documents, it often proved very difficult for Black farmers to gain access to capital because they weren’t able to prove to the bank that they had adequate collateral for a loan, which in turn meant that they weren’t able to purchase land and expand their operations.
The USDA has admitted to this long history of discrimination and has been taking steps since the late 1990s to address systemic racism and discrimination.1
But Bland says that for many Black farmers access to capital continues to be a problem to this day. “One of the unique challenges that I think Black farmers face,” she says, “is the generational wealth gap that we see. They’re not making any more land. Therefore, all the land that’s available is usually already taken up by larger farmers that have inherited land and generational wealth.”
Bland adds that today Black farmers constitute less than 1% of all the farmers in the U.S. However, the situation is improving for those farmers. The USDA has approved some initiatives that provide support to Black farmers.
Bland’s father, James Bland, Jr., will eventually pass down the family’s 1,500-acre operation to her. “The more I worked on the farm, the more I loved it,” she says.
Opening the lines of communication to address these issues is invaluable in a diverse industry like agriculture. “Agriculture serves everyone,” says Brandon Bell, diversity and inclusion lead at Syngenta. “As we engage farmers and ag industry partners, it’s essential to truly listen to what people are saying.”
Bell helps turn their stories into insights. He focuses on sharing knowledge, not changing people’s minds. Syngenta values the opportunity to encourage diverse viewpoints. “I want to help people be open to a new way of thinking,” Bell says. “Diversity feeds the spirit of community. Inclusion feeds the spirit of creativity. Equity feeds the spirit of innovation.”
For Lankford, this spirit reflects the joy of farming with his family. For Bland, a deputy commissioner with the Tunica County Soil and Water Conservation District, it means honoring her rural roots. “I don’t want to be the biggest farmer,” Bland says. “I want to be the best farm manager so I can carry on my family’s legacy.”
1Vilsack, Thomas J., “Opening Statement of Thomas J. Vilsack Before the House Committee on Agriculture – Remarks as Prepared,” March 25, 2021, usda.gov/media/press-releases/2021/03/25/opening-statement-thomas-j-vilsack-house-committee-agriculture
While pollinators are often unseen, they pack a powerful punch when it comes to the production of some of the country’s highest-value crops. Flying from flower to flower, these bees, butterflies, birds, bats and beetles, among many other species, are critical to the food supply. In fact, pollinators are essential to one-third of the world’s crops, including apples, almonds, blueberries, cherries, cranberries and melons. In the U.S. alone, pollinators increase crop values by more than $15 billion annually.
Needless to say, protecting these pollinator powerhouses is critical to the variety of plant life and the food supply that nourishes us all. Because organizations and individuals can accomplish more together than they ever could on their own, partnerships are helping protect pollinators, enhance biodiversity and preserve the land.
Farmers have been working with beekeepers for decades, according to Caydee Savinelli, Ph.D., stewardship team and pollinator lead for Syngenta.
“We all care about the land, but farmers steward the land and maintain it for generations to come,” she says. “They grow the crops that bees can forage on and around. Whether the crop itself needs pollination or the surrounding land is providing habitat for pollinators, farmers understand that working together is good for themselves, the beekeepers and, most importantly, the bees.”
We’re growing crops that feed and fuel the world; and, without pollinators, our crops can’t produce what they normally can or should.
Farmers continue to place great importance on pollinator protection, says Chip Bowling, farmer and former chairman of the National Corn Growers Association.
“My grandfather taught me that you need to take care of the soil and whatever is around it, and that includes the pollinators,” Bowling explains. “As farmers, we’re growing crops that feed and fuel the world; and, without pollinators, our crops can’t produce what they normally can or should. Pollinators are critical to the agricultural community.”
Beekeepers work with farmers every year to provide pollination services for crops. For example, more than 80% of all commercial bee colonies are transported across the U.S. in January to produce almond crops in California. From there, bees may travel to the Pacific Northwest, the East Coast or the Southeast to pollinate fruits and vegetables.
Relationships between farmers and beekeepers help provide forage for bees, but they don’t solve some of the challenges that the overall bee population is facing. These challenges include mites, diseases and potential pesticide exposure.
“It’s hard to know exactly what is affecting bee populations,” Savinelli says. “There are a lot of variables, and there is a need for more data. One thing is certain: Collaboration will play a vital role in overcoming these challenges.”
Stakeholders from around the world are coming together to preserve biodiversity and protect pollinators.
“As an industry, we have a lot of knowledge and best practices to protect pollinators,” Savinelli explains. “We thought it really made sense to get together and provide resources so farmers can continue using and benefiting from insecticides, but at the same time help pollinators.”
As a result, the Growing Matters coalition, which includes neonicotinoid insecticide registrants, launched the BeSure! campaign. Its purpose is to remind members of the ag community to follow best management practices and stewardship tips when using insecticidal treated seeds and crop protection products. In its second year, the 2020 campaign reached farmers and applicators in at least 28 states through tailored radio sponsorships, social media and traditional trade media outreach.
“One of the keys is communication,” says Tom Smith, executive director of the National Pesticide Safety Education Center. “Communicating with fellow landowners surrounding their farms and with beekeepers who may be in the area is really critical. Even for farmers who don’t grow crops that need pollinators, it’s important to understand where they have natural areas and to work with others to continue preserving biodiversity on their farms. Frankly, farmers are aware of these things and are already doing them.”
One way Syngenta is building bridges to connect farmers, companies and beekeepers is through Operation Pollinator, a global biodiversity initiative to boost the number of pollinating insects on farms and golf courses. Other industry stakeholders are partnering to protect pollinators as well, including The Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund, Project Apis m., the Iowa Soybean Association, Monarchs in the Rough and many others.
The end goal of all these partnerships is the same: to maintain a biodiverse planet, a healthy environment and a thriving population of pollinators that will ensure a stable food supply.
It’s a goal that growers and ag retailers share. After all, no one has a stronger stake in preserving the land than the people whose livelihoods depend on it. They also understand that maintaining access to the seed- and crop-applied technologies needed to produce more bountiful crops requires proper use, storage and disposal.
“Whatever we do together is much better than what we can do alone,” Savinelli says. “As long as we’re working toward a common goal — putting seeds in the ground, growing productive crops and keeping pollinators safe — the future looks bright.”
As a parent, I teach my son that every story has two sides. As a leader in sustainable agriculture, I also find myself having to remember that every day. Too often, we miss our opportunity to tell our side of the story — the story of the American farmer, the progress that has been made in sustainability and the groundswell of new efforts underway to further success in sustainable agriculture. Though most consumers are at least three generations removed from the American farm, they are showing increased interest in learning where their food comes from and knowing more about the farmers who produce it.
So how do we start the conversation?
Authenticity, coupled with facts, is a great place to start. Put a few statistics, such as the percentage of family-owned farms in the U.S. (98%) coupled with your own family farm story, into the conversation. I have been amazed to learn how many of our customers are operating farms passed through generations all the way back to the Homestead Act of 1862!
Knowing the facts about your farm exponentially increases public interest. That story is better told with robust on-farm record keeping, which also helps tell your environmental sustainability story. Tell people about the practices you use to improve soil health or optimizing production through technologies like genetically modified seeds.
For the big picture, in this issue you can grab a few data points on the differences between organic and conventional crop production. And, as in every issue, we share information regarding American agriculture’s commitment to strong, economically sustainable production.
Every one of us has opportunities to tell our story in a genuine way, inviting conversation and further developing relationships between farmers and consumers. By taking time to listen and understand other perspectives, then sharing our own stories, we can build farmer-consumer relationships one conversation at a time.
Central Valley Ag (CVA) cooperative, based in York, Nebraska, established an organic division in 2018 in response to interest from its member-owners in eastern Nebraska, northwest Iowa and north-central Kansas.
Ninety-nine percent of the cooperative’s business is in conventional agriculture. But a lot of growers are either trying organic or looking at the price premiums and wanting to try it. We believe both farming methods have a place. Our job is to provide value to our growers, whether organic or conventional.
“Ninety-nine percent of the cooperative’s business is in conventional agriculture. But a lot of growers are either trying organic or looking at the price premiums and wanting to try it,” says Tim Mundorf, CVA director of soil management. “We believe both farming methods have a place. Our job is to provide value to our growers, whether organic or conventional.”
Mundorf advises organic growers on inputs that meet Organic Materials Review Institute certification. Tools include natural fertilizers, biologicals, plant growth regulators and plant stimulants that help plants build natural defenses against disease. The co-op also offers organic grain storage and marketing services.
Hannah Borg, winner of the 2020 Thrive #RootedinAg Contest, shared a glowing tribute to her grandmother Lois Borg in a video that warmed the hearts of online voters and contest judges alike.
“Grandma is really the glue that holds our family together,” Hannah says.
Pam Caraway, communications lead at Syngenta and one of this year’s judges, further explains the appeal of Hannah’s winning entry, “It’s a story of devotion to faith, family and country,” she says.
Lois, 86, still lives on the farm near Wakefield, Nebraska, where she and her husband, Marvin, grew crops and raised four sons. Marvin passed away about 10 years ago, but their children and grandchildren continue the family’s farming tradition. Hannah, the eldest of 10 grandchildren, works on the farm while also pursuing other opportunities in agricultural communications — a field in which she earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Family members know that on any day, they can count on Lois to have a full-course meal ready at noon. Hannah regularly joins her grandmother for those lunches.
“I’ve learned a lot about her and the history of the farm,” Hannah says.
During the years when she and her husband were raising their family, Lois helped in the field when needed. But her work around the home was equally important — cooking, canning vegetables, doing laundry and raising chickens. In addition to the farm income, egg money helped feed the family. Selling eggs was something she just quietly did.
“She didn’t want the attention,” Hannah says.
Telling ag’s story helps keep the family farm at the forefront of our national conversation.
Through her #RootedinAg video, Hannah shares her grandmother’s impact and contributions. “Grandma is the perfect mix of grace and grit,” Hannah says. “I’ve always admired how she lives her life and her role in our family.”
The #RootedinAg Contest celebrates ag’s heroes, Caraway says. “Telling ag’s story helps keep the family farm at the forefront of our national conversation,” she says.\
Part of Hannah’s prize package from Syngenta is a $1,000 donation to a local charitable or civic organization . She chose to have the donation made in her grandmother’s name to the Wakefield Heritage Organization, which manages both a library and a railroad museum.
The Borg donation is a big boost, says Barb Stout, who co-manages the Wakefield Heritage Organization. This is especially true because the organization was unable to hold its 2020 fundraisers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization will use the donation to help maintain buildings and support various projects, Stout explains.
Hannah says she chose the Wakefield Heritage Organization because it helps preserve the community’s roots. Communities such as Wakefield have endured because of the leadership and hard work of people like her grandmother, she explains.
Victories from the field feature growers winning battles, both small and large, by choosing the right solutions for insects and diseases. As with any challenge, growers report that overcoming obstacles on multiple fronts is essential to achieving higher yields in corn.
Derric Eisenmann from Mahomet, Illinois, is one of those growers. Every year, he’s on the front lines, fighting off pests like gray leaf spot, corn rootworm (CRW) and Japanese beetles in his cornfields. His goal is to find a program with high efficacy that increases the profit opportunity in his crops.
“I’ve done trials where I’ve only used a fungicide or only used an insecticide,” Eisenmann says. “But then I used both and received a much bigger return on investment [ROI].”
Eisenmann found that using an effective insecticide and fungicide provided a balanced attack against both insects and diseases, with robust treatment of one resulting in improved control of the other.
Over the past few seasons, he’s found success by using a combination of Trivapro® fungicide and Warrior II with Zeon Technology® insecticide from Syngenta.
“With those kinds of superior products, your ROI can go through the roof,” Eisenmann says. “I’ve seen the standability, the plant health and the control of gray leaf spot improve. We also get late-season rootworm beetles or Japanese beetles. If you’re cleaning up the beetles to protect the leaf, then you also need to enhance the leaves’ healthiness.”
I’ve done trials where I’ve only used a fungicide or only used an insecticide. But then I used both and received a much bigger return on investment.
Protecting corn against insects takes more than just spraying the right insecticide at the right time. Dependence on one seemingly perfect solution can result in exposing successive insect generations to the same mode of action, leaving those pests resistant to a once-effective chemical.
Kevin Langdon, Ph.D., product biology lead for insecticides at Syngenta, uses his entomological expertise as a representative on the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC). Formed in 1984, IRAC works as a specialist technical group of CropLife — the national trade association for pesticide manufacturers, formulators and distributors — and provides a coordinated industry response to prevent or delay the development of resistance in insects and mites. Langdon notes that the group’s insect control philosophy has changed in recent years.
“IRAC now recommends a generational ‘windows approach,’ where one window is equal to one insect generation,” he explains. “It’s a different way of thinking that cuts down on exposure of subsequent generations to the same mode of action.”
Hybrids with insect control trait stacks act as a foundation for an effective corn insect control strategy and provide growers peace of mind. Corn traits help preserve yield potential and keep target pests from causing significant economic damage. Traits work in tandem with crop-applied insecticides to help manage insects effectively.
An example of this kind of protection can be seen in Syngenta traits, such as Agrisure Viptera® and Agrisure Duracade®. These traits are offered in several integrated E-Z Refuge® stacks that provide multiple modes of action against above- and below-ground insects. Agrisure Duracade and Agrisure Viptera trait stacks combine to control 16 damaging above- and below-ground pests, more than any competitive trait stack.
The discovery of Agrisure Viptera started with something that many people have experienced in their refrigerators. “One of our researchers returned from vacation and decided to study the bacterial strains in his sour milk instead of dumping it, which led to the discovery of Agrisure Viptera’s insecticidal protein, Vip3,” says Eric Boudreau, Ph.D., head of trait projects for corn at Syngenta. “Before Agrisure Viptera, yield losses from lepidopteran [above-ground] pests could be devastating. Agrisure Viptera marked a major step change in corn insect control.”
Agrisure Duracade, in particular, represents a major step forward in insect control through traits. “Duracade is unique because it’s the first engineered hybrid Bt protein,” explains Tim O’Brien, Agrisure® traits manager at Syngenta. “Our researchers combined two different Bt genes to create a unique protein that has a different binding site in the gut of corn rootworm, giving growers a novel way to combat one of agriculture’s most persistent pests.”
Even in light of these advances, O’Brien notes, it’s important to remember that Agrisure Duracade is one of the many technologies farmers may use. “Growers concerned with corn rootworm should have a multiyear management plan in place for each field that incorporates multiple control strategies, including crop rotation, CRW-traited corn hybrids, soil-applied insecticides and adult beetle management.”
Your farm data is worth a lot, but how do you extract that value to lower your cost per bushel and farm more sustainably and profitably?
“Farmers are the original environmentalists, but we’re also the original economists,” says no-till farmer Matt Moreland of Medford, Oklahoma, who raises corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton with his three sons.
Moreland operated out of spiral notebooks until converting to AgriEdge® in 2014. With the computerized system from Syngenta, Moreland enters land rental rates, taxes, crop input products and costs, equipment costs, labor costs, and more to track profitability by field. With AgriEdge, Moreland says, “it’s easy to generate reports to figure variable-rate prescriptions, adjust seeding and fertilizer rates, and run projections.”
Farmers are the original environmentalists, but we’re also the original economists.
The key for farmers is to use a system that helps them make data-driven decisions faster. “We can drill down into tillage passes, crop protection applications and more to help growers realize greater field-level profitability and sustainability by placing the right products in the right place at the right rates,” says Patrick Thompson, an AgriEdge specialist with Syngenta.
Data is secure in AgriEdge, and the program includes highly responsive support service, Moreland adds. “AgriEdge is an integral part of our daily, weekly, monthly and yearly planning.”
With the 2021 planting season underway, soybean growers face the challenge of selecting herbicides that best protect their seeds’ full genetic yield potential. The online Syngenta soybean herbicide program planning tool gives growers, retailers and consultants a simple, straightforward way to find the solution.
Our new planning tool makes choosing the right herbicide — burndown through post-emergence — easier, regardless of the trait system.
“In recent years, new traits have come to market that provide growers even more options for rotating their herbicides to new effective sites of action,” says Pete Eure, technical product lead for Syngenta. “Our new planning tool makes choosing the right herbicide — from burndown through post-emergence — easier, regardless of the trait system.”
Q: What are your top three tips for creating a budget?
A: Dale Nicol, AgriEdge manager for the Western Commercial Unit, Syngenta:
A: Shawn Hock, AgriEdge Manager for the West Heartland Commercial Unit, Syngenta: Creating a budget begins with knowing your current operation’s economics.
A solid plan with as much detail as possible will provide the measure by which growers can assess their results.
Q: How does field history, including yield, play into creating a budget?
A: Nicol: Field history, especially a multiyear history, helps set the baseline for expectations. Much of farming is outside the control of farmers, making the multiyear view critical. Trends, too, can be important on both the cost and yield analysis fronts. If variable costs trend up at a constant rate over time, growers can infer that trend may continue. Yield improvement trends also may fit into the budget process.
A: Hock: Field-level data is a must to improve a farm’s economic performance. Understanding field-level data helps you make better farm decisions and may result in improved farm profitability. This is because profitability can differ largely across fields. When you get down to the field-level, you can start discussing agronomic practices, farmland purchase or rental decisions, and even marketing strategies.
Q: When creating a budget based on acres, how can growers establish their cost per bushel or other unit of yield?
A: Nicol: True cost of production goes back to granularity. It’s a simple equation to determine cost per unit in comparison with price received: Fixed cost per acre plus variable cost per acre divided by the yield gives you the cost per unit. Assigning the cost, however, is not so simple. For example, do you consider land rent a fixed cost and spread it across the whole farm? Do you tally up all equipment costs into one bucket, then assign it across every acre? Ideally, fixed and variable costs are assigned to the individual field, recognizing that a fixed cost may go across every field or assigned by crop, or just the leased but not owned land. In the end, it becomes a balance between the perfect allocation and a realistic one. Therefore, budgeting itself has a cost-benefit equation.
A: Hock: Understanding your costs is important, regardless of whether it’s cost per bushel or cost per acre. Cost per bushel is simply determined by dividing your total cost per acre by your total yield per acre. Both should be used to discover actionable insights with your trusted advisers to improve your field-level profitability.
Q: How can farmers figure out whether a given product or treatment increases their earning potential, either through yield or quality?
A: Nicol: When it comes to knowing the benefit of a given input, it can be very complicated. Financially, the analysis is easily stated as return on investment (ROI). When I spend a dollar, do I get more than a dollar in return? ROI comes through increased yield or increased price due to quality. To truly know, however, a comparison with and without the single variable would have to be done, keeping all else constant. Splitting a field is one approach — keeping the whole field on a uniform program, with the new product on half and the previous or normal practice on the other half. Even this approach has its problems with variations within a field. Learning as much as possible about new products and their potential impacts on yield and profit through university trials and replicated demonstrations will help set expectations. Syngenta provides local Grow More™ Experience events and other field demonstrations that AgriEdge growers may access.
A: Hock: Farmers should start by knowing their operation’s cost of production and financial situation at the field level. From there, it’s easy for them to benchmark a product’s impact on yield compared with other products — always being careful to limit other variables’ impact on product performance in their evaluations. Replicating trials across fields, across farms and with other cooperators will help them gain more confidence in a product’s impact on earning potential.
Q: When looking at commodity prices and agronomic opportunity, what’s the simplest way for growers to figure out the crop acreage mix that offers the greatest opportunity for profit?
A: Nicol: One would think this would besimple. Evaluation of yield and price, less production cost of each option, results in a clear view of potential. However, it’s not that simple in most cases. Crop rotation, reliability of commodity price, weather unknowns and cost changes are a few of the variables that impact this otherwise simple evaluation.
A: Hock: The simplest way is to review your prior year’s cost of production, yield, and market price by field and crop, then adjust those to the current year’s reality. Once you know your current projections, you can weigh the pros and cons of making changes to improve productivity or decrease costs by crop at the field level. Typically, there are significant agronomic, marketing and other operational considerations in making changes to the crop acreage mix; and these shouldn’t be understated. AgriEdge offers an efficient way to convert a prior year’s field-level profit into a current year’s crop plan for this type of strategy development.
