Specialists Speaking
Tyson Raper / TENNESSEE
The 2025 variety testing data from Tennessee was released immediately after Christmas and you can find that report on news.utcrops.com. While we were able to achieve higher-than-average yields in two locations (Grand Junction and Ridgely), most of our locations yielded substantially lower than in recent memory. For those in our area, that is no surprise; many locations received no effective rainfall from late July through September. While Ridgely and Grand Junction give insight into top-end yield potential in a relatively high-yield environment, the data from other locations should give excellent insight into the ability of a variety to handle stress. The overall average table merges both of these extremes and should help us select varieties that are stable across both scenarios.
Making wise selection decisions from a single year of data can be difficult, especially if that year doesn’t represent your typical year. No one plans for a year like 2025. While I am very proud of the separations we are able to generate with a single year of data, allow me to remind you that it is most wise to try to pull data from multiple sources across multiple years. Also, spread your eggs across many baskets! I’m excited about several of the experimentals from 2025 that were advanced in several different platforms. That said, I would not plant more than a small number of acres to any new variety. ∆
Tyson Raper / TENNESSEE