b'PARTNER CONTENTThree cheers for the ultimate team player: corn seed treatmentBy: Davie Wilson, PhD, NA Seed Growth Technical Manager- Fungicides and Insecticides at Bayer Crop Science I grew up on a Mississippi Delta cotton and soybean farm at the perfect time to fully experience the nearly miraculous benefits of seed treatments and other biotechnologies. In my youngest years, we didnt yet have RoundUp Ready or lepidopterous control; the boll weevil eradication hadnt started; and we were still pre-BT cotton. The introduction of biotechnology changed everything, al-lowing us yields and quality wed never before thought possible. As a ten- or twelve-year-old, my mind was blown by biotechs ability to decrease our familys stress and increase our crops returns. I still feel that same wonder and appreciation today, which is why Im proud to have had a hand in developing every corn seed treatment Bayer Crop Science has released. However, though the products are fantastic, I feel that we as an industry have room to improve. Specifically, we need to do a better job of educating pro-ducers about three key realities: 1) All corn seed sold today comes pre-treated for very good reason. Corn is a weak and disease-susceptible plant in its earliest stages. Cold and wet weather are common during the typical corn plant-ing window, providing ideal environmental conditions for corn disease pathogens that strike between germination and V1/V2. While some plants like soybeans and canola can compensate for a difficult start, corn is limited to single ears, the size of which are determined very early (V6). As such, corn seed treatments protection of early crop health has a direct and critical impact on ultimate yield.Every year, we run untreated checks alongside our corn product trials in our development plots. Regularly, just a handful of plants survive across an entire check strip: the rest dont ever3) Seed treatment is a critical part of a system rather than a come up. Those that do emerge develop inconsistently and pro- standalone. duce low yield. I always enjoy taking producers on walks throughI can tell you that ours is the best seed treatment package avail-our plots, since a single glance at an untreated check proves theable today. While crop health surveys consistently show thats value of seed treatment in an instant. true, crowing about a seed treatment doesnt make a lot of sense. Contrary to misconception, a seed treatment does not promote 2) Seed treatments are formulated only for the benefit of thegrowth, add yield or improve potential. Growth and yield potential farmer are genetic and, as such, determined by the germplasm and the Producers often incorrectly assume that companies add unneces- biotech traits contained inside the seed. Seed treatments only sary ingredients to seed treatment to increase the market price.function is to protect what already exists. That is entirely false. Because treatment is applied upstream andSince Im a football fan, I see germplasm and biotech traits as sold at seamless pricing, an additive without direct biological ben- the running back and quarterback: there to make the plays and efit would be a cost that we as a company must absorb. Our goal isscore the points. Seed treatment, on the other hand, is the offen-to bring the best active ingredients in one package that protect oursive line: there to protect the stars, enable the plays and win in germplasm and trait investment. the trenches.DECEMBER 2022SEEDWORLD.COM /13'