St. Louis, Missouri, USA
March 8, 2017
Last week at the 2017 Commodity Classic in San Antonio, Texas, Monsanto announced recent enhancements to #TraitAnswers (Genuity.com/TraitAnswers), a robust online tool that compiles the top trait questions and provides information from industry experts to help educate farmers about the features and benefits of various traits.
“We saw the need to create a unique, one-stop shop to help address the growing number of traits questions from farmers who are under pressure to scrutinize inputs and other management costs,” said Robert Nixon, North America Traits & Systems Marketing Lead for Monsanto. “There have been many extraordinary advances in traits recently and more exciting advancements are coming in the Monsanto pipeline. #TraitAnswers will be a central hub to provide farmers the latest expert insights to let them better select and utilize traits to help maximize yield potential and profitability in these economically and agronomically challenging times.”
Nixon said in addition to learning what their peers are talking about, the site also invites farmers to tweet their own questions, then follow the #TraitAnswers discussion as it evolves. Questions can be sorted by topic, so farmers can plan ahead. The site also enables users to find local dealers providing seed products with the traits that work best on their particular fields.
Answers To Tough Questions
To date, more than 27,000 people from across the country have visited #TraitAnswers. Here are some of the critical questions that have been posted on the ever-expanding site:
- What is the benefit of multiple modes of action?
- Black cutworm is a problem in my area. What traits are available for me?
- How do I combat resistant weeds in my field?
- Can I put any generic dicamba product on my Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® soybeans?
- What is in the traits that protects against above-ground pests?
“Farmers need quick and reliable answers and information to address issues like managing weed resistance, dealing with drought, best practices for herbicide and insecticide spraying, and understanding what’s in the research pipeline,” Nixon explained. “#TraitAnswers also provides information on pest problems and what trait packages are available to help them plan for pest or drought problems that they don’t have now, but may see in future seasons.”
Additional tools
Beyond providing answers to questions, #TraitAnswers also provides links to information resources and an array of risk management and business planning tools Monsanto offers. Here are some of the tools available:
- Corn Calculator This tool enables farmers to compare the value that different traits bring to their fields. Users enter key information about their operation (such as growing region, acreage and traits) to get a custom comparison.
- Corn Trait Comparison Tool This enables users to compare corn traits to leading competitors' alternative platforms to make sure you are combating insect pressure to help maximize yield potential.
- Insectforecast.com This tool helps farmers to track the migration of crop-damaging insects like corn rootworm, corn earworm, black cutworm, soybean aphid and western bean cutworm, so they can take action and protect their crop investment.
- Rootworm Manager App The first app of its kind, Rootworm Manager helps growers to obtain an accurate measurement of current risk and take advantage of suggested next steps based on their individual results.
Farmers and dealers can join in the traits conversation at @GenuityTraits.
Species
