USA: Pioneer brand corn hybrids record best overall yields in history

Farmers across the U.S. are harvesting the highest ever overall yields for Pioneer® brand corn hybrids, despite variable and unexpected weather conditions through the 2018 season. Multiple products delivered double-digit yield advantages over the competition due to a strengthened testing and screening process as well as continued investments in research.

“The overall yield performance from Pioneer® brand corn products this season have been the best in company history,” said Judd O’Connor, President, U.S. Commercial Business, Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont. “I’m proud that our continued investments in Pioneer products are making a big difference for our customers this fall.”

Highlights from new class of Pioneer® brand corn products include several near-double-digit yield advantages over the competition with:

• Pioneer® P0688AM with 8.4 bu/A advantage.
• Pioneer® P1464AML with 8.4 bu/A advantage.
• Pioneer® P1283AM with 10.0 bu/A advantage.

“We strive to provide growers with a consistent, high-yielding line of hybrids, suited to individual operations,” said Matt Smalley, Research Director, North America Corn Breeding. “Now, more than ever, we are able to deliver consistency and top yields. Corn product advancements go through a more rigorous testing than ever before, including a two-year IMPACT™ [Intensively Managed Product Advancement Characterization and Training] plot testing. Knowledge from this process has strengthened our screening process, translating to consistently higher yields.”


Performance Matters

Farmers select seed based on proven performance. In nearly 16,000 comparisons, the top 40 Pioneer® brand corn products by demand held a 5.3 bu/A advantage over the competition. Several individual products have risen to the level of top-performing Pioneer® P1197 brand corn, with eight products averaging a 10 bu/A yield advantage or greater, including:

• Pioneer® P1197AMT with 13.2 bu/A advantage.
• Pioneer® P1306WHR with 11.5 bu/A advantage.
• Pioneer® P1828AM with 10.9 bu/A advantage.
• Pioneer® P0157AMXT with 10.7 bu/A advantage.
• Pioneer® P7527AM with 10.7 bu/A advantage.
• Pioneer® P0339AMXT with 10.3 bu/A advantage.
• Pioneer® P0843AM with 10.2 bu/A advantage.
• Pioneer® P0825AM with 10.0 bu/A advantage.

The success of the 2018 season is due to the industry-leading genetics and continued investments in research and breeding used to create the high-performing hybrids. Pioneer brand Optimum® AQUAmax® products are designed to work rain or shine, such as P0306AMXT, which boasts a 14.2 bu/A yield advantage over the competition. Overall, Pioneer® brand Optimum® AQUAmax® products offer growers a 5.4 bu/A yield advantage over competitors.

Pioneer® brand Qrome® corn products, including P1370Q, which offered a 13.0 bu/A yield advantage, are finding an expanded role in the ethanol market. Pioneer® brand Qrome® corn products hold an 11.2 bu/A yield advantage over all competitors.

In addition to the wide variety of Pioneer® brand corn products available, high-performing brown mid-rib (BMR) silage hybrids offered growers an equal starch content compared to leading non-BMR corn silage hybrids.

Proprietary Seed Treatment

Top-of-the-line, industry-leading genetics deserve the latest in corn seed treatment, such as a new broad-spectrum fungicide for protection against soil-borne and seed-borne diseases, including Rhizoctonia, Fusarium, Headsmut, Phomopsis, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Alternaria, Sclerotinia, Mucor, Rhizopus, Botrytis, Cochliobolis sativus, Diaporthe and Cladosporium. This new broad spectrum fungicide, which will join the LumiGEN™ system seed treatment product offering for the 2019 growing season, delivered a 3.2 bu/A improvement over the previous offering.

This is the third new active ingredient added to the LumiGEN™ system seed treatment portfolio over the past five years, and is proprietary to Corteva Agriscience™ corn products.

“Thanks to top-of-the-line genetics and industry-leading research, Pioneer® brand corn products have shown that they can perform for growers in a multitude of conditions,” O’Connor said. “We are excited not only for the results we are seeing today, but also for the future of our lineup of products.”