Bayer Extends Acreage Lead
December 3, 2010 
In 2009, Bayer CropScience took over the top spot as the number-one seller of cotton seed in the U.S. with a market share of 46 percent, when its FiberMax and Stoneville brands were combined. In 2010, Bayer extended that lead and now claims slightly over half (50.2 percent) of the nation’s cotton seed sales.
“I think it’s kind of humbling in that farmers have chosen to plant FiberMax and Stoneville varieties on the majority of their acres in the U.S., and we feel a sense of responsibility to continue to deliver the varieties,” says Lubbock-based Jeff Brehmer, U.S. FiberMax and Stoneville marketing manager.
FiberMax 9058F led the nation is sales with 10.36 percent of the market. When you consider that it’s sold in a very concentrated area of Texas, that’s pretty amazing. FiberMax had 65.89 percent of the market in the Southwest and had the top five selling varieties.
“Up and down the Delta, five of the top nine varieties were Stoneville,” says Brehmer. “Our goal is to be a multiple variety company so that we can indeed get the right variety in the right field. And we feel that is the strength of both brands.”
In total, nine of the top 15 selling varieties in the U.S. were either FiberMax or Stoneville brands.
For 2011, Bayer is looking at several experimental varieties that will be stacked with the LibertyLink and Bollgard II traits.
“We’re looking at how these varieties fit in different areas and on different soil types across the Belt,” Brehmer says. “One has Stoneville germplasm and the others have FiberMax germplasm. They’re looking like they’re going to perform quite well. In CAP (Cotton Agronomic Performance) trials across the belt, they’ve looked good. We’ll decide at our annual variety advancement meeting in December whether to advance our first LibertyLink/Bollgard II variety under the Stoneville brand.”
CAP trials are conducted on-farm across the Cotton Belt.
Georgia has been Ground Zero for glyphosate resistance and Bayer’s LibertyLink trait gives growers the option of using Ignite rather than glyphosate. “In Georgia, specifically, we’re seeing some of the FiberMax LibertyLink/Bollgard II varieties doing very well,” Brehmer says. “FM 1845LLB2 and FM 1773LLB2 have fit well in Georgia, addressing the weed-resistance issue.”
Released in 2010, FM 1773LLB2 is a medium-maturity variety for East Texas, the Mid-South, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. FM1845LLB2 is a medium- to full-maturity variety for the same regions
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