Variety Flex(ability)

One of the knocks on Roundup Ready Flex varieties has been the perception of yield drag versus regular Roundup Ready varieties. And while perception can be everything, sometimes it’s not reality.

“When Flex first came out, I sat right here in this office with Mickey and Pat and they asked me if this Flex thing is going to catch on,” says Winston Earnhart, a Tunica, MS, cotton consultant. “Is it the future? I told them that it was a farmer’s dream. I farmed myself, and the thought of being able to farm all year with a high-boy is wonderful. They jumped all over it – it was very desirable to them.”

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Earnhart is referring to a conversation he had with brothers Mickey and Pat Johnson, of MP Farms, near of Tunica. MP Farms also involves Mickey’s son Michael, his son-in-law Buddy Allen, and Pat’s son Patrick.

“Flex has been a little slower to be adopted for one reason – yield drag is being reported in Flex varieties,” says Earnhart. “I started comparing notes with consultants in Arkansas at the same latitude, and we are not seeing a yield drag with Flex varieties.”

The perception, was born, Earnhart says, when mid- to short-season Flex varieties were compared to longer-season varieties. “There will be a definite yield difference in longer-season (non-Flex) varieties that they grow in the south Delta and some of the shorter-season varieties we are have here, but it has nothing to do with Flex. The south Delta has a longer growing season and more heat units.”

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Delta and Pine Land’s DP 555 BR is one of those longer-season varieties that can benefit from the extra heat units of the South delta, but both Earnhart and Allen say the shorter-season varieties they prefer – Delta and Pine Land’s DP 143 B2RF and DP 147 RF, and Stoneville’s ST 4554 B2RF – will perform just as well in their area, even with its slightly shorter growing season.

(According to USDA, DP 555 is planted on more acres than any other variety. ST 4554 is the most popular Bollgard II/Roundup Ready Flex variety.)

“If you take 555 at this latitude in the north Delta, there will be no yield increase over a mid- to shorter-season variety like (DP) 444 (BR),” continues Earnhart. “So what we are seeing is that it’s much more advantageous for us to go to a Flex variety. There was never a yield drag here. If there was a yield drag, it was south of us, but 9 times out of 10, they were comparing a mid-season Flex variety to 555.”

“I feel confident that we can make as high a yield, with as good a fiber quality, with the leading Flex varieties from D&PL and Stoneville,” adds Allen. “I will take those on our farm in Tunica, MS – they are as good as anything else.”

MP Farms is a contract grower of DP 143 B2RF.

“I think there is going to be an increased demand with these better Flex varieties. This will be our fourth crop to be 100% Flex,” says Allen. “I really feel strongly that we are making better yields with Flex, because I think we were putting glyphosate where it didn’t belong with regular Roundup Ready. We were pressured to put out glyphosate one more time in a short time frame, and that causes you to make bad decisions. We were doing damage, but we are not seeing that with Flex. We don’t have that pressure anymore with Flex.”

Adds Earnhart, “We were damaging (regular Roundup Ready) cotton with the directed sprays hitting too high. I don’t think farmers realized that. We were spraying underneath cotton after the fifth-leaf stage, and when weeds got a little taller, we just sprayed higher.”

Many of the new Flex varieties are also stacked with Bollgard II, and that technology is also more advanced than the original Bollgard. “We had been overspraying Bollgard an average of two times for bollworms,” Earnhart says. “With Bollgard II, it’s been close to zero. That extra control coming from the second toxin has been enough. And I believe Bollgard has reduced the natural populations of budworms. The populations are lower simply because there is so much Bt around.”

Another advantage of Bollgard II is that no natural refuge is required. That said, Earnhart may continue to recommend a non-Bt Flex variety that he came to believe in when the refuge was required. “We’re using (DP) 147 (RF) for more than just a refuge,” he says. “We’re planting it because we like it. It’s a good one. But I don’t think people are going to stick their necks out too far, because if budworms do hit, it’s going to be a mess.”

Taking Advantage of Higher Prices

Allen says MP Farms’ 2007 crop mix was 25% cotton, 25% rice and the other 50% split between corn and soybeans. They also planted wheat last fall, and will follow it with soybeans. All prices for that mix are significantly higher than they were just a year ago.

“Agriculture had a big year-and-a-half in a lot of ways,” says Allen. “We’ll plant more grains this year than we do historically, but we’re more and more observant of the proposition of raising cotton,” says Allen. “In our operation, if cotton looks as good as anything then we’re going to raise cotton.

“Right now,” he continues, “from an economically viable scenario, we think cotton and corn are pretty comparable for us, so we’re trying to rotate and take advantage herbicide chemistries, yield potential and nematode resistance. Some of this ground has not been rotated in years and years.”

There is no denying that grain prices are out pacing those off cotton, but Earnhart says there is some more to consider for cotton than just price – higher yields. “We’re reaching much higher yields – all of my farmers are,” he explains. “For all of this – better varieties, Flex, boll weevil eradication – cotton is now fairly attractive. Two-bale yield used to be pie-in-the-sky, but it’s becoming more normal. We were sitting here last year trying to figure out how to grow 50-cent cotton.”

Allen agrees, saying, “We have a lot of infrastructure for cotton and we’ll grow cotton as long as it is viable. I am certainly more bullish on cotton than I was a year ago, and I think it’s going to get better.”

Other profit factors to consider are cottonseed prices, warehousing, and fertilizer costs. Allen says the doubling of the price of cottonseed has become a significant per-acre revenue for cotton. Also, “Storing cotton in the warehouse used to be a big expense – it’s not now. Cotton is almost 30-cents-a-pound higher than it was a year ago. If you make 1,000 pounds, that’s $300 more per acre. The increase in fertilizer is about $30 an acre.”

3 Captions:

MP Farms is a contract grower of Delta and Pine Land’s DP 143 B2RF.

Buddy Allen (left) and Winston Earnhart

Buddy Allen

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