Pioneer^® brand corn and soybeans deliver yield advantages and income opportunities

Pioneer^® brand corn and soybeans excelled in on-farm trials harvested this season, delivering consistent yield advantages over competitive products across all environments. Pioneer brand products achieved even greater yield advantages under many of this season’s stressful growing conditions. At recent commodity prices of $5.93/bu for corn and $12.46/bu for soybeans,¹ these yield advantages are helping create strong income opportunities for farmers.

“Farmers need solutions they can trust to help maximize yield potential and profitability on every acre — it’s why we rigorously test each Pioneer brand product, including every one of our most popular products in on-farm trials,” said Judd O’Connor, President, U.S. Commercial Business, Corteva Agriscience. “This data enables us to transfer insights from trials to farmers’ fields.”

Leading R&D Equips Pioneer Brand Corn to Thrive in Challenging Environments

The Corn Revolution has enabled Pioneer breeders to more efficiently search and screen the Corteva Agriscience global gene library to create exclusive Pioneer brand corn products in the U.S. The result is a diverse product lineup with the agronomic characteristics that deliver yield despite growing conditions.

“This season, growers faced challenges that included increased corn rootworm pressure, persistent drought and outbreaks of disease,” said Luis Verde, North American Corn Product Development Lead, Corteva Agriscience. “While Pioneer brand products showed advantages across all environments, it was in some of this season’s most difficult conditions where Pioneer brand corn best demonstrated its competitive advantage.”

The performance from the 2021 advancement class, which included 43 new products from 26 new genetic platforms, was exceptionally impressive. “This past year’s new hybrids — all products of the Corn Revolution — delivered the first year in the field with an average 6.1 bu/A yield advantage,² which we are excited to learn from and build on in the coming years,” Verde said. Top performers included:

• Pioneer^® P0924Q™ brand corn with a 9.3 bu/A yield advantage

• Pioneer^® hybrid P1718VYHR with a 10.3 bu/A yield advantage

• Pioneer^® P9540AM™ brand corn with an 8.1 bu/A yield advantage

• Pioneer^® P9823Q™ brand corn with a 11.3 bu/A yield advantage
  

The 40 most popular Pioneer brand corn products by sales volume averaged a 4.2 bu/A yield advantage² over the competition in more than 10,000 on-farm comparisons across all environments. This equates to $24.91/A in potential additional farm income.¹

Pioneer^® brand Qrome^® products, which feature two modes of action to defend against corn rootworm pressure, averaged an impressive 6.2 bu/A yield advantage this season over competitive SmartStax^® technology.² This equates to $36.77/A in potential additional farm income.¹ Qrome products with superior advantages over SmartStax^® technology include:

• Pioneer^® P0720Q™ brand corn with a 9.8 bu/A yield advantage

• Pioneer^® P0075Q™ brand corn with an 8.7 bu/A yield advantage

• Pioneer^® P0404Q™ brand corn with a 7.4 bu/A yield advantage

Many western U.S. corn-growing states continued to experience persistent drought conditions this season. Pioneer^® brand Optimum^® AQUAmax^® hybrids are bred to include key native traits that are designed to improve root system and silk emergence, among other agronomic characteristics, to help manage drought stress. In 2021, Optimum AQUAmax hybrids had a 5.8 bu/A yield advantage across all growing environments.²

The robust agronomics of Pioneer products are built to tolerate a range of diseases, and their overall plant health was on display this year. Large portions of the eastern Corn Belt saw severe outbreaks of tar spot disease, a foliar fungal disease, which can cause significant yield loss in susceptible corn hybrids. In the most heavily impacted areas, Pioneer products excelled with a 7.7 bu/A yield advantage.²

Premium seed treatments also contributed to yield advantages in fields experiencing stressful conditions, such as corn nematode pressure. Lumialza™ nematicide seed treatment provides more than 80 days of root protection in upper, middle and lower root zones against plant parasitic nematodes and can add a 3.7 bu/A yield advantage³ under low nematode pressure and up to 9 bushels under high nematode pressure.

Pioneer^® Brand Enlist E3^® Soybeans Growing Yield Advantages and Market Share

Overall soybean product performance was exceptionally strong in nearly 3,200 competitive on-farm comparisons. The top 40 Pioneer brand soybean products by demand demonstrated a yield advantage 66% of the time, with a 2.5 bu/A yield advantage,⁴ resulting in a $31.15/A potential additional income advantage.¹

“We are excited about how Pioneer brand Enlist E3 soybeans delivered this season,” said Jeff Thompson, Global Soybean Research Lead, Corteva Agriscience. “Enlist E3 technology is firmly established, and farmers planting Pioneer brand Enlist E3 soybean products can count on a decade of expertise to support them in adopting this superior weed control system.”

Enlist E3 soybeans now have approximately 35% of the total U.S. soybean market, and early indications on farmer demand for Enlist E3 soybeans in 2022 is trending higher than expected.

Pioneer brand Enlist E3 soybeans are delivering a 3.0 bu/A yield advantage⁵ and outperforming 70% of the time versus Asgrow® XtendFlex^® soybeans, including:

• Pioneer^® P31T64E™ brand soybeans with a 3.3 bu/A yield advantage

• Pioneer^® P29T37E™ brand soybeans with a 3.2 bu/A yield advantage

• Pioneer^® P42T31E™ brand soybeans with a 3.0 bu/A yield advantage

• Pioneer^® P38T05E™ brand soybeans with a 2.6 bu/A yield advantage

• Pioneer^® P28T02E™ brand soybeans with a 2.3 bu/A yield advantage
  

“The yield advantages from our on-farm trials against Asgrow^® XtendFlex^® soybeans would result in a $37.38/A potential additional income advantage with Pioneer brand varieties,” Thompson said. “This is just the beginning. Farmers planting Pioneer brand Enlist E3 soybean varieties can continue to expect a robust pipeline of products that help maximize yield potential and profitability on their farms.”

Next season also brings the availability of the new Lumiderm^® insecticide seed treatment, which shields soybean seedlings against twice the number of insect species when compared with Gaucho^® seed treatment. In multiyear trials, Lumiderm can add a 1 to 2 bu/A yield advantage.⁶

Farmers who would like to analyze the performance of their own acres at a subfield level and easily compare yield by hybrid choice, soil type, planting date and other variables can do so for free through Granular^® Insights™.
——————————

¹ Income/A advantage is calculated with the price of corn at $5.93 per bushel and with the price of soybeans at $12.46 per bushel as of Oct. 20, 2021.

² Data is based on an average of 2021 comparisons made in the United States through Oct. 26, 2021. Comparisons are against all competitors, technology segment matched, unless otherwise stated, and within a +/- 3 CRM of the competitive brand.

³ Data is based on a 10-state broad-acre head-to-head strip trial comparing Lumialza™ nematicide seed treatment versus non-nematicide seed treatment utilizing the same insecticide and fungicide recipe in seed-applied technology replicated in strip trial data. Yield ranged from 3 to 9 bu/A depending on nematode species and population, in 184 low-stress and 54 moderate- to high-stress locations.

⁴ Data is based on an average of 2021 comparisons made in the United States through Oct. 18, 2021. Comparisons are against all competitors, unless otherwise stated, and within +/- 0.3 RM of the competitive brand.

⁵ Data is based on an average of 2021 on-farm and IMPACT™ trial comparisons made in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin through Oct. 31, 2021. Comparisons are against any number of products of the indicated competitor brand, unless otherwise stated, and within +/- 0.3 RM of the competitive brand.

⁶ Significant yield improvement and reduction in plant stand gaps based on Corteva Agriscience research data in 73 locations.