Many Midwestern farmers are struggling with saturated soils and delayed planting—and so are seed company researchers. Devin Nichols is a corn breeder with Bayer in central Illinois. He tells Brownfield the trials they are doing now are for products that might not be released for several years. “We will be testing in the same conditions that farmers are growing in this year, but how representative will that data be for the conditions that the products will actually experience in future years when they are commercialized?” He says even with delayed planting, farmers in his area usually have a large harvest window, but there is less flexibility on the research side.
Continue reading Abnormal weather can impact spring plant breeding research at Brownfield Ag News.
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