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Rogers Leonard, Ph.D.
Tensas Parish, Louisiana
I worked for over 40 years with LSU AgCenter and retired in 2020 as associate vice president of the ag research and extension programs. I was then approached by a group of farmers in northeast Louisiana to work as their consultant. I’m from that area, so I moved back and consult primarily in Tensas Parish on cotton, soybean, corn, grain sorghum and wheat acres.
Most of these growers are very progressive, using technology for decision-making. My philosophy as a consultant is to consider each field individually, which fits very well with the needs of my clientele. I consult on limited acreage and spend considerable time sampling fields. I try to tailor my recommendations to the specific needs of each field or even part of a field. That’s how we manage costs, improve production efficiencies and increase yields.
Growers benefit from having options. As we look back at weed control for the past several seasons, it’s important for growers to have the flexibility to use different herbicides. When we think about using a herbicide system, we also must think about varieties, because you can’t separate the variety from the herbicide technology. So, we need good options to diversify varieties and herbicide systems, because that will help keep yields up and help us manage weed resistance.
Flexibility On Cotton Acres
We have found some PhytoGen® W3FE varieties that perform well in our area. PhytoGen varieties perform well in high-yielding cotton environments. One benefit is the nematode resistance. We have a bigger nematode problem than many growers realize in our highly productive, lighter-textured soils. Nematodes are limiting yields, and consultants are thinking more about nematodes when making variety recommendations. That is just another piece of the puzzle that plays into variety selection.
The Enlist® weed control system also is very effective against weeds and weed resistance. We could see an increase in more acres of the Enlist system because of the current situation with dicamba. One important consideration for the Enlist system is flexibility. You can use Enlist One® herbicide as well as glufosinate and glyphosate — and the option to tankmix Enlist One with those other products, if needed. We can pick and choose the herbicide applications that best fit our fields. That gives growers more flexibility, and flexibility is so important right now.
Compared to older forms of 2,4-D, Enlist herbicides give us the ability to keep our applications much more on target when following the proper application guidelines. That is an important point for growers to know.
