By Dr. Dave Benson
As the Product Manager at Big Cob Hybrids, my most important task is choosing the overall highest performing and safest corn and soybean seed products for our customers. But what sets Big Cob apart from our competitors is the next step, which is the creation and recommendation of a product placement plan for each field on your farm – something we call a Farm-Fit Plan. To develop a Farm-Fit Plan, Big Cob utilizes the Product Placement Pyramid, in which we consider many variables to position the right seed product(s) on the right field, with the right management plan, at the right planting population.
Product placement and positioning is no easy task for Big Cob Hybrids as many variables come into play to influence the ultimate outcome of grain yield. Most of these variables interact with one another in some random and unpredictable fashion. There are at least 13 key variables in the Big Cob Product Placement Pyramid which I will discuss below. If you are a current Big Cob customer, you know that our product placement strategy and your goals for each farm will be presented to you in the form of an overall Farm-Fit Plan for each field on your farm.
The Farm-Fit Plan is a critical piece of the product placement puzzle that Big Cob Hybrids provides for our customers, which most of our competitors do not. One critical advantage Big Cob has with our seed arsenal is our ability to deliver to the customer many uniquely genetically diverse corn hybrids and soybean varieties with numerous diverse trait options from multiple sources. Big Cob’s customized Farm-Fit Plan strategy will detail how to achieve your farm goals by positioning three or more seed products and providing multiple trait options to each customer. Since you never know whether the weather will bless or curse your farming operations, the Big Cob product placement strategies provide a form of insurance to your operation of broadening both your genetic and trait base.
The Product Placement Pyramid looks like this:
- Relative Maturity
- 103 CRM (101-105 days)
- 108 CRM (106-110 days)
- 113 CRM (111-115 days)
- Previous Crop
- Continuous Corn
- Crop Rotation
- Trait Options
- Herbicide and insect traits
- Herbicide only
- No herbicide or insect traits
- As you are aware, insect traits can be further divided into above ground only, and
multiple modes of action for above ground insects or above and below ground
insects.
- Yield Goal
- High 276 bushel/acre and above
- Intermediate 201-275 bushel/acre
- Low 101-200 bushel/acre
- Ultra-low > 100 bushel/acre
- Expected Planting and Harvesting Dates
- Early: Late March – April 15
- Normal: April 16 – May 10
- Intermediate late: May 11 – June or replant
- Early harvest
- Soil Type and Current Yield History
- Terrain
- Flat or bottom ground
- Gently rolling
- Steep
- Water Availability
- Irrigated
- Dryland (non-irrigated)
- Tillage Type
- No till
- Minimum till
- Conventional till
- Input Management Strategy
- High or ultra-high
- Maintenance
- Mining or low
- Corn Stover Residue Desired
- High or do not consider
- Low a factor in hybrid placement
- Fungicide – One or more in seasons applications to promote plant health
- Will apply
- Will not apply
- Channel the Grain
- Does the customer have an outlet such as a feedlot, ethanol plant, etc.?
Ready for a field-by-field planting plan?
Fill out the form HERE and we will prepare a custom, no obligation Farm-Fit Plan and email it to you promptly or, if you have questions contact Jason Ladman at (402) 366-3241.
About Dr. David Benson – Dr. David Benson has carved out an illustrious career becoming one of the most experienced breeders in the industry. His persistence in retesting and selecting hybrids for testing, and his innate and creative ability to recognize superior hybrids, has been a great addition to the evolution of the Big Cob Hybrids product line up. Dr. Benson graduated with a B.S. in Agronomy and crop production option in 1988 at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. The completed his PhD in Plant Breeding and Cytogenetics at Iowa State University in Ames, IA, under the instruction of internationally renowned Dr. Arnel Hallauer. Dr. Benson holds a total of 51 patents for his breeding efforts at Pioneer, and one from Mycogen Plant Sciences.
