Wellman Seeds acquires new agri-technology

Published:  Thursday, December 17, 2009 (3 months ago)
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BY STACY TAFF
The Delphos Herald
staff@delphosherald.com

VAN WERT — Wellman Seeds has announced an exciting new techonology it’s acquired through conjunction with Monsanto, an agricultural company that specializes in using technology to improve farm productivity and food quality.
Jim Wellman, president of Wellman Seeds, says that 2010 will be an exciting year.
“We’re really excited about this new technology and these new products,” he said. “Our main goal is to improve the farmer’s income. We feel we can definitely give the farmer an advantage when he heads to the field next spring.”
Doug Justison, account manager of Monsanto, explains the new products.
“The two new blockbuster traits that Monsanto has are Genuity SmartStax corn and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans,” he said. “SmartStax is the best yet at controlling above and below ground insects as well as weeds. It brings a significant reduction of refuse to the farmer, where it was 20 percent before, we can get it down to as low as 5 percent. Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean is 2nd generation technology and the 2009 yield results were excellent. 2010 looks to be better still.”
According to research, farmers using biotech corn see a 10-15 bushel per acre yield advantage over those who use hybrids without in-plant protection against insects. Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans still offer the same weed control as the Roundup Ready soybeans that have been available for some time but with a higher yield potential.
“We cover the area from Lansing, Michigan, and Columbus and from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Wooster,” Wellman said. “We have this trait technology in a limited amount of products this year that we’re currently taking orders for and selling to farmers. We feel very confident that this is the future. We’ve worked with Monsanto for years and they’ve always been at least as good as they say they are.”
Also present at the briefing were two Ohio farmers who were allowed a test run with the products.
“I used 37 acres for a test plot for Jim and put aside some other acres for what I usually use,” said Jeremy Wensink of Rudolph. “I normally get 60 bushels of beans but with the new technology it went up to 62. The others were down to 52.”
Albert Walton of Waynesfield claims there was definitely an improvement, but his yield wasn’t quite as great as Wensink’s because of the weather.
“My yield wasn’t as great with Genuity and it wasn’t as great as my other crops but the Genuity plants did better,” said Walton. “They seemed healthier than the others, even growing in a dry area. I think we only got about 1 1/2 inches of rain in July and the same in August. I know it will keep improving on yield, too, because it’s the same with any new technology. It takes time to pick up.”
Wellman says that even though the yield may take time to build up, he feels they’ll be able to achieve their goal.
“We’ve had a good experience with this technology. It greatly improves the health of the product, even if there’s not always a huge yield increase,” he said. “It’s improving all the time. We’re positive this will allow farmers to increase their profit potential.”

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