Producers Blog

Bob Kleinschmit
(Product Manager)

2014 has been an interesting year for just about every place that Producers Hybrids sells products. Our Southern Region, Kansas/Missouri, is no different. Many of our customers ended the year much better than expected. When I reflect back to the beginning of the planting season, many areas, especially in the western part of Kansas, were experiencing moisture conditions that were not looking very positive at all. Planting started earlier than normal. There were many instances where the crop was planted into dry soil and the irrigation systems had to start just to get the seed to germinate. June arrived and gave much needed relief to many irrigated and dryland acres. The western part of Kansas was fortunate that the heat was not excessive but unfortunate in the fact that many storms moved across the High Plains and caused significant crop injury in some areas. Goss’s Wilt pressure was below normal. Overall, yields were good; above average on irrigated and dryland acres not affected by Mother Nature.

Move to the Eastern part of Kansas and into Missouri. This part of the country started with a cool dry spring. Planting started on time and progressed quickly and the rains started and continued throughout the summer. Irrigated yields were slightly above normal but many dryland farms “hit it out of the park”. The marginal and shallow soils benefited from the cooler summer and timely rains. The season finished with excessive rains in some areas causing harvest to drag on to dates much later than normal. The cool wet summer opened the door for other issues to arise and storms in the early spring wiped out entire areas from hail. SDS showed up this year with a vengeance in some areas and Goss’s Wilt was reported in areas where it was rarely talked about in prior years.

After everything that Mother Nature gave to us, Producers Hybrids products still performed. We have had record yields and consistency across our entire region that you and our customers have come to expect. We have a solid line-up of corn and soybean products that will fit your needs. One comment I received from a customer was “SDS affected everything but, compared to the competition, your soybean varieties took it the best”. Producers Hybrids is a western focused company and our products are chosen knowing the adverse conditions we see in this part of the world. Go to our website and see for yourself how we have performed in your area. Watch 7574VT3PRIB, 7268STXRIB, 7224VT3PRIB, 7213VT2RIB and 7014VT3PRIB. We have also had very good performance with soybeans. Check out 3801NR2, 3802NR2, 3900NSR2 and 4302NSR2. These products have given consistent performance year in and year out.

I would like to finish by saying Thank You to you and our customers. I thank you for your support and confidence in Producers Hybrids and look forward to your continued business.