PHOENIX, Ariz. — Soybean growers in central Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan have a new early-maturing variety to choose from this year.
S0009M2 is Syngenta’s first offering in the 000 maturity group. Small quantities will be available this year.
“(It) is much earlier than what’s typically on the market,” Ross Weikel, head of soybeans in North America, said during an interview at the 2015 Commodity Classic conference.
Up until now, Syngenta’s varieties have been suitable only for southern Manitoba, where they were the top-yielding soybean in the short-season zone, according to 2014 yield trials conducted by Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers.
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The new variety can be grown in central Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan, which are in the 000 maturity zone. Only two other 000 varieties are on the market.
“We’re very excited to have (our) first launch into that area,” said Weikel. “For the 2016 season we expect it to be a pretty big seller.”
Kyle Friesen, president of Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers, is pleased another early maturing option is available for growers.
“This would just help us expand our region further into some of the more shorter season growing areas,” he said.
“From the sounds of it, (S0009M2) will be one of the shorter season varieties that is commercially available.”
Friesen was also happy to hear Monsanto is gearing up to launch Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans in Western Canada in 2016, pending regulatory approval.
It will be the largest biotech product launch in the company’s history, hitting the market first in North America and then in South America later in the decade.
The product was originally slated for commercialization in 2014, but the approval process has been much slower than anticipated.
That has given the company time to beef up the product line. Monsanto plans to hit the market with more than 60 varieties covering eight soybean maturity groups.
“It’s going to be six times more than the number of products launched in 2009 with Roundup Ready 2 Yield, so we’re really excited about that achievement,” Miriam Paris, Xtend system launch manager, said during a news conference at the 2015 Commodity Classic conference.
Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans will be sold through the company’s Asgrow and Channel brands, its regional brands and its licensee brands. Asgrow will offer the widest selection of varieties.
DiPal Chaudhari, Asgrow brand manager, said the new line of soybeans builds on the 1996 launch of Roundup Ready soybeans and the 2009 launch of the Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans.
“Those were both huge milestones, monumental shifts in options for farmers,” he said. “This is going to be bigger than both of those.”
Roundup Ready 2 Yield Xtend soybeans add dicamba tolerance to the Roundup Ready 2 Yield platform, providing growers with enhanced weed control.
Monsanto said the new technology will work well on most of the 200 million acres of soybeans grown in North and South America.
That includes Western Canada, where it will allow growers to control Roundup Ready canola volunteers, said Paris.
Friesen said providing growers with more weed control options is a good thing, especially for growers in western Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where there is a long history of growing Roundup Ready canola.
“Having the dicamba option as a herbicide for soybeans will definitely help manage that challenge in soybean production,” he said.
Monsanto used its breeding program in North Dakota to develop and field test lines suitable for Western Canada. It will have varieties for the 00 maturity zone and possibly the 000 maturity zone.
“The feedback we’ve gotten from the local (western Canadian) teams is that they’re really excited about bringing in that second mode of action,” said Paris.
The new soybean product has full regulatory approval in Canada, as do Monsanto’s two new herbicides, Roundup Xtend and XtendiMax.
The soybean has U.S. approval, but Monsanto is still waiting for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to approve the herbicides.
The soybean has not been approved in the European Union or China, but Paris is confident those approvals will be in place in time for the launch planned for next year.
The company will be conducting extensive field trials this year to determine what kind of a yield bump growers can expect over control varieties. The results have been good in small plot trials.
“I’m a breeder by training, so I get really excited about this. From a yield perspective they’re performing outstanding,” said Paris.
“They’re really out-yielding our controls; not based on the trait, just based on the breeding process.”
Roundup Xtend is a premix containing low-volatility dicamba and glyphosate, while XtendiMax is a low-volatility dicamba tank-mix partner.
Dicamba controls 274 small- and large-seeded broadleaf weeds, takes little water to activate and has a residual effect in the soil for up to 14 days.
sean.pratt@producer.com
