Missouri farmer pleased with Bayer XtendFlex Soybeans Stewarded Trial Program

The 2020 XtendFlex Soybeans Stewarded Trial Program brought the up-and-coming soybean products to farmers who were looking to try new soybean technologies.

Greg Dieckmann of Missouri was one of many farmers who got firsthand experience with Bayer’s XtendFlex soybeans. He talks about why he decided to sign up his family farm for the XtendFlex Soybeans Stewarded Trial Program.

“I joined it at the request of my seed dealer, and to give me an opportunity to try the newest and latest products that Bayer is putting on the market or trying to get on the market. I was very willing to try it because it gave us an additional mode of action to try and help control the weeds that we struggle with on a year-to-year basis.”

He says the Bayer XtendFlex Soybeans performed very well in his fields.

“Seed quality was good. We got them planted in good time this year and they had good emergence, plenty of rain. We had a good crop going all year. We did finish up harvest and had very good results on the XtendFlex beans.”

With tolerance to dicamba, glyphosate, and glufosinate, he says XtendFlex soybeans offer herbicide options to manage the toughest weeds.

“Having the three modes of action to help control the weeds gives us plenty of opportunities to take care of them if we don’t get them all in one trip and gives us another mode of action so we can control them all throughout the growing season. The tough weeds that we fight with every year are the waterhemp and the marestail. This year, particularly, we had plenty of rain during the early and mid-part of the growing season and it seemed like the waterhemp just kept coming. Having the gluphosinate option as well as the dicamba and glyphosate gave us another chance to spray one different product on there and help control the weeds as they kept coming throughout the midsummer.”

Dieckmann says he will plant XtendFlex soybeans on his farm during 2021.

“We finished harvest and had good results on them. The options for weed control was very beneficial to us. I definitely plan to plant them again next year. The additional benefit I had from the XtendFlex beans was the yield potential that came with the new technology that Bayer is putting out. We had above-average yields on basically all of our XtendFlex beans this year and I know there’s some new numbers coming next year and I would expect them to be as good or better.”

During the 2020 season, the XtendFlex soybeans have been widely planted and evaluated in monitored field trials across the Corn Belt. The on-farm trials have provided Bayer team members and farmers a reliable assessment of the agronomic vigor and high yield potential of the XtendFlex soybeans.