Another year of the Answer Plot® program is in the books. With help from our retail partners like you, we’ve been conducting trials and interpreting data from Answer Plot test sites since 1998 to generate insights you can use to strengthen your recommendations. Here are four things we learned from the 2021 program.
1. Advanced Acre Rx continues to provide great value.
For the second year, we conducted trials to test our Advanced Acre® Rx program in corn and soybeans. This season, we saw even greater advantages to the Advanced Acre Rx management style than we did in 2020, which also yielded favorable results.
Through two years of trial data, it’s clear these recommendations are leading to increased yield potential for our growers. In fact, with our Elite Rx® 105% APH prescription, we saw a 25.4-bushel increase in yield on average compared to the average local program this season.1 This data goes to show just how well you work with the unique environments and situations of each of your customers to help them improve yield potential and meet their production goals.
2. Enlist E3® and XtendFlex® soybean platforms both performed well.
With much anticipation around these soybean platforms, we tested each of them to gauge their performance. The results made it clear there are good genetics in both platforms. Varieties with both Enlist E3 and XtendFlex platforms were scattered throughout the top third of performers. Depending on a grower’s environment, one platform may work better than the other, but in a head-to-head comparison, there’s not a noticeable difference in quality or performance.
3. Fungicide timing is more flexible than you may think.
At 35 Answer Plot locations, we ran a fungicide application timing study using Bayer’s Delaro® Complete fungicide on corn. We compared traditional timing (R1) with an earlier late-vegetative timing. Results indicated similar performance at both timings. When disease arrived earlier in the season, we noticed subtle advantages to applying fungicides earlier. However, the key takeaway from this study is that it’s possible to apply fungicide a bit earlier when it’s still possible to get a machine through the field and still get good performance.
4. Nitrogen applications can get more precise with new data approach.
Since 2011, we’ve been providing response-to nitrogen (RTN) scores for most hybrids. These scores are based on Answer Plot data from our nitrogen trials where we made applications at two rates: low and high.
This year, we added a third, more moderate nitrogen rate. With this third data point, we’re able to build curves for a hybrid instead of one linear line. For example, some hybrids will increase at a relatively steady rate from low to medium to high nitrogen rates. This means they continue to respond the more nitrogen that’s added. However, we’re learning some hybrids respond differently at each point. They may have a steep increase from low to medium, but level off between medium and high rates.
With this new information, we will not change how we calculate RTN, but we will have a lot more information available to help you make more precise recommendations and, in turn, help your growers get more efficient with their inputs. With N prices as high as they are right now, this also allows you to help growers prioritize applications, even among their high-RTN hybrids, and decide which should get additional N and how much.
We look forward to more insights and findings to come as we continue analyzing 2021 data. As we head into 2022, we plan to further refine the Advanced Acre Rx program trials so we can better understand how each of the five agronomic fundamentals contribute to the agronomic system and will also be improving how we compare products and management strategies. We’ll also be continuing our work on fungicide and genetic interactions, seed treatments, biologicals and more.
To get further details and data from the 2021 Answer Plot program, contact your local WinField United representative.
