BASF Recognizes One Ton Club And Maximizer Club Farmers
BASF recently celebrated cotton growers who achieved 4-bale or greater yields by welcoming them to the exclusive FiberMax One Ton Club for their 2018 harvest results. Ninety-one new members joined the club this year, bringing total membership to 1,181 cotton growers.
Several members received special awards at a banquet held recently in Lubbock, Texas.
• Most acres and most varieties: H Bar H Farms in Dalhart, Texas, harvested an average yield of 2,208 pounds per acre on 3,996 acres with FM 1900GLT, FM 1911GLT, FM 1320GL and FM 1888GL.
• Highest yield: Shane and Sammi Jo McLain of Hart, Texas, harvested an average yield of 2,798 pounds per acre with FM 1911GLT.
• Highest gross value: Doug and Cari Ruble of Visalia, California, earned $1,530.77 per acre on their qualifying acres with FM 2498GLT.
• Highest loan value: Steve and Gina Milanesio of Strathmore, California, garnered 57.64 cents on their qualifying acres with FM 1830GLT.
“It’s been a tough year for growing cotton, but these growers took on the challenge and still accomplished excellent results,” says Rachel Walters, cotton seed marketing manager, BASF.
The FiberMax Maximizer Club, now in its third year, recognizes growers with dryland cotton fields that yield at least 1,000 pounds per acre with FiberMax varieties.
Special awards for the Maximizer Club include:
• Most acres and most varieties: Darren and Lorre Haseloff of Farwell, Texas, averaged 1,351 pounds per acre on 749 acres with FM 1830GLT and FM 1911GLT.
• Highest yield and highest gross value: Louis and Pamela Davis of Hawley, Texas, harvested an average yield of 1,736 pounds per acre and earned $902.03 per acre with FM 2498GLT.
• Highest loan value: Ben Gwynn of Robstown, Texas, gained 56.27 cents on his qualifying cotton acres planted to FM 1830GLT.
“Averaging 1,000 pounds or more per dryland acre is remarkable,” Walters says. “These growers are up against the worst that Mother Nature has to offer. Despite this, they are able to take our FiberMax varieties and pair them with their knowledge and skill to achieve these excellent yields. We’re honored to recognize them for their accomplishments.”
Maximizer Club members are entered into a drawing for a Polaris Ranger XP 1000 EPS utility vehicle. This year’s winner was Ben Gwynn of Robstown, Texas. Gwynn qualified for the Maximizer Club with FM 1830GLT.
First Residual Dicamba Premix Herbicide Is Now Available
Syngenta newest herbicide, Tavium Plus VaporGrip Technology herbicide, has been registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As the market’s first residual dicamba premix herbicide, Tavium contains built-in residual control to manage resistant weeds and maintain clean fields throughout the season. Tavium, a proprietary Syngenta premix, will be available for the 2019 growing season, subject to state approvals.
Tavium can be used preplant, at planting and early post-emergence on Roundup Ready 2 Xtend Soybeans and Bollgard II XtendFlex Cotton. The premix of dicamba and S-metolachlor offers growers a convenient new tool to manage key ALS-, PPO- and glyphosate-resistant broadleaf and grass weeds.
“Unlike all other standalone dicamba products, the multiple effective sites of action in Tavium broaden the activity spectrum and increase its overall efficacy and sustainability,” says Bobby Bachman, Syngenta herbicide product lead. “The addition of S-metolachlor with dicamba in a premix not only helps manage resistance, but it offers up to three weeks longer residual control than dicamba alone.”
The Tavium formulation targets driver weeds, including waterhemp, Palmer amaranth, horseweed (marestail), common and giant ragweed, kochia, morningglory, barnyardgrass and foxtail.
This herbicide will be a valuable tool for growers in the fight against the most difficult-to-control resistant weeds by:
• Managing emerged weeds through contact activity
• Controlling weeds that have yet to emerge with residual activity
• Providing up to three weeks longer control than dicamba alone
• Working in all tillage systems and various geographies in both pre- and early post-emergence applications Tavium should be used as part of a two-pass program in order to preserve the efficacy of auxin technologies like dicamba. Syngenta recommends applying Tavium in a two-pass system, following a pre-emergence application of Boundary 6.5 EC, BroadAxe XC or Prefix herbicides in soybeans, or after Caparol 4L herbicide in cotton.
“The premix formulation provides an easy way to reduce selection pressure on dicamba, but a system of pre- and post-emergence herbicides is still crucial,” Bachman says.
Deltapine NPE Program Kicks Off Its 12th Season
Growers in the Deltapine New Product Evaluator Program will evaluate Bollgard 3 XtendFlex variety candidates this season for the Deltapine Class of 20 that show potential to raise the yield bar across the Cotton Belt.
“In every region of the Belt, there are variety candidates, nine in all, being evaluated that have shown yield potential greater than or equal to DP 1646 B2XF,” says Keylon Gholston, Deltapine Cotton Products Manager. “The Class of 20 has potential varieties that offer outstanding fiber qualities and significantly more disease tolerance than previous classes. The Class of 20, which will be introduced in December, has the potential to continue driving average yield for U.S. growers upward.”
Regionally, Deltapine NPE growers will plant a larger number of candidates than in previous seasons, including six candidates in the Southeast, Mid-South and Far West regions, and seven candidates in the Southwest region. A focus of this year’s NPE program is identifying Bollgard 3 XtendFlex varieties for each production region that offer similar or better performance than DP 1646 B2XF and other high-performing Deltapine varieties currently on the market.
Based on company breeder testing the past two seasons, here are highlights of the Class of 20 variety candidates:
• All nine of the NPE candidates have shown yield equal to or greater than DP 1646 B2XF in at least one region of the Cotton Belt
• Two of nine candidates show potential for staple length greater than 39. Four of nine candidates have shown staple length greater than 38
• Two of nine candidates show potential for fiber strength greater than 31.5 g/tex. Five of the nine candidates have demonstrated strength greater than 30 g/tex
• Six of nine candidates are resistant or moderately resistant to bacterial blight
• Five of nine candidates being evaluated in Texas are moderately tolerant or tolerant to Verticillium wilt
“I can’t express how important the NPE Program has become to my farm and my neighbors’ farms,” says Jason Waltz of St. Matthews, South Carolina, an NPE grower since the program began in 2008. “We need the Bollgard 3 gene in varieties that yield and grade like DP 1646 B2XF, so evaluating for the Class of 20 this season will be exciting.”
The plots will be managed accordingly to each grower’s practices, consist of both irrigated and non-irrigated fields, planted on various soil types and be subjected to local environmental conditions.