News
Seed salesman notices national & regional crop trends
A seed sales representative says he’s noticed some regional and national trends for seed purchases heading into the 2022 growing season.
Brian Hackbarth sells LG Seeds in northeastern Wisconsin and upper Michigan. He tells Brownfield, “Industry-wise, there’s more beans going in than there is corn.”
Hackbarth says his farmer clients are trying to cut input costs and take advantage of the higher soybean prices.
Hackbarth says many in the industry didn’t anticipate this much demand for soybeans, and he says a lot of farmers are getting away from Xtend and Xtend Flex and moving to E3 soybeans this year. “That’s where you’re seeing a big turnover because for simplicity, and liability because they don’t want to be hampered with that dicamba. They just want it easy and you can spray anywhere, so you’re seeing a lot of E3 beans versus anything else going in.”
But in his northeastern Wisconsin region, Hackbarth says he’s not seeing as much change in crop plans. “Northeast Wisconsin is still very heavily dairy and that’s why they’re sticking with more corn. They have to have the corn and they have to have the feed, and I’m not really seeing any switch from corn to beans, especially in the northeast district. I’m not seeing any of it.”
Brownfield interviewed Hackbarth at the WPS Farm Show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
