USA
June 2019

With unpredictable weather, Iowa grower’s corn crop defeats the odds

Jason Durschmidt is a fourth-generation farmer from Fort Dodge, Iowa. He owns a 3,400-acre farm, growing soybeans and corn. In 2018, Durschmidt used Poncho ® /VOTiVO ® 2.0 seed treatment on a portion of his corn acres for the first time and learned some interesting insights throughout the year, starting with planting.

“We use seed treatments because we try to plant as early as possible,” said Durschmidt. “The early season root development is what gets the plant going and determines how it’s going to grow throughout the year.”

Once the crop began to emerge, Durschmidt could immediately see his decision paid off. “We’ve noticed more root growth, more fibers off the root and deeper roots reaching down to essential moisture and nutrients,” he said.
 

By the time Durschmidt’s fields were ready for harvest, Iowa had experienced tough weather anomalies such as strong winds and continuous rain throughout the growing season.

“The corn never really had a dry root system,” Durschmidt said. “We had two dry weeks this summer; otherwise, the corn has been under water almost all year, and it’s stood very well for what it’s been through. Even with the wet year we’ve had, we saw better early root growth, and I think the corn was better able to utilize the nutrients that were available without having to put down a deeper system.”

The corn stalks were put to the test in late August, when a strong wind blew through Fort Dodge, reaching nearly 60 mph. Durschmidt said, “I’ve got a lot of corn that lodged this year, due to the strong winds. But I didn’t see any lodging on the Poncho/VOTiVO 2.0 corn.”

Even with the weather conditions this year, Durschmidt said, “We’ll have a higher return than the untreated corn. More than anything this year, we’re seeing better stalk integrity. It has stood up and held through the wet weather we’ve had. We’re not having to pick corn up off the ground. That’s a huge impact.”

In looking ahead to the 2019 season, Durschmidt said, “I plan on using Poncho/VOTiVO 2.0 because we had excellent results with it this year,” he said. “And going forward, I hope we have the same results.”
 

You can listen to the extended radio interview with Jason  here.

To learn more about Poncho/VOTiVO 2.0, please visit ponchovotivo2.com.

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Published: July 1, 2019