CROPLAN Making Its Mark in Cotton
November 26, 2016 From Cotton Grower Magazine – November 2016
Steady, methodical growth, backed by a corporate commitment to help growers increase their profits. That’s the approach that CROPLAN seed is bringing to the cotton market.
So far, so good.
“The CROPLAN brand is growing,” reports Robert Cossar, CROPLAN cotton product manager for WinField. “We had excellent growth over the past two years from new growers and from current customers. They’re seeing the performance of our varieties from a yield standpoint, but also in terms of fiber quality.”
The product lineup may be short, but it’s long on results.
The company released two new Bollgard II XtendFlex varieties in 2015. Increased supplies of the seed for 2016 put them on more farms and in front of more growers.
“Farmers have been pleased with CROPLAN 3475B2XF this year,” says Cossar. “It probably has as much, if not more, vigor and early season emergence than any variety on the market today. Last year, we saw high yields and very good fiber quality for that early maturity market from northern Alabama across the north Delta to west Texas. It also worked well for some growers as a double crop option behind wheat or vegetables in Georgia and Mississippi.”
Yield numbers for 2016 are still forthcoming. Yet Cossar said some early results from Missouri were encouraging, with the variety placing among the top three yielders.
Full season markets have seen consistent yield results from CROPLAN 3885B2XF – a variety that added acreage in 2016 from Georgia across the southern Cotton Belt, according to the recent USDA Varieties Planted Report.
“In last year’s University of Georgia on-farm trials in 21 locations, this variety topped the chart 29% of the time,” says Cossar. “It finished in the top four 75% of the time, which was higher than any other variety in the trial.”
Seed production for CROPLAN 3475B2XF and CROPLAN 3885B2XF has been increased this year, and ample supplies of both should be available for 2017.
One new early season variety – CROPLAN 3226B2XF – was released in limited quantities this year in the cotton areas west and north of Lubbock. Yield results are pending, and supplies will be increased for 2017. “But we won’t offer it anywhere except west Texas,” adds Cossar.
The company is still offering CROPLAN 3787B2RF in south Texas and other areas where resistant weed control is not yet a major issue. “I’m going to offer this variety as long as growers want to buy it,” explains Cossar, while noting that the market is moving rapidly to the XtendFlex technology.
For 2017, the company is currently reviewing an experimental B2XF variety for possible introduction. That decision will be made in early January. Several other potential varieties will move to broader experimental testing across the Cotton Belt next year.
In addition to providing high performing cotton varieties, CROPLAN also brings the strength of the WinField/Land O’Lakes management system to its growers.
“We’re farmer-owned, and we take pride in that,” says Cossar. “We’re here to serve our growers and offer a total farm approach rather than just sell seed.”
Those services include use of precision ag tools to help growers map their fields, look for areas of variabilities and develop a total farm plan.
“We’re looking at total return on investment,” adds Cossar. “We may ask a grower to spend a few more dollars. But we’re going to show him how to make money, increase his profits per acre and be more efficient.”
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