What if you knew the breakeven grain market price for a product to remain profitable? What if there was a resource that could tell you if an input was a wise investment at current grain prices at the moment you were making that purchase decision? Well now there is. 

With an abundant amount of management practices and input products available to farmers today, Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR)® team sought a way to make it easier for farmers to identify the products and practices that could consistently provide a return on investment (ROI) for their farms. Thus, the concept of PFR Proven^™ was born. If a PRACTICE has been tested in PFR and found to be the most profitable, then that practice will earn the status “PFR Proven.” Additionally, if a PRODUCT has been tested in PFR and found to provide positive yield gains and averages a positive ROI over a minimum of three years, that product will earn the status PFR Proven and should be something to consider trying on your farm.

One group of products included on the PFR Proven product list are row starters. Many row starters lead to a healthy, early-season plant appearance but do not provide a yield increase. The PFR Proven status can help farmers identify the row starter products that will increase ROI and provide more consistent performance.

When planning for 2017, one PFR Proven row starter product for corn to consider is Start Right, a biological additive that can be used both in-furrow or as a 2x2 placement. Beck’s PFR has seen the most consistent results with the 2x2 placement, which has provided an average yield advantage of 9.8 Bu./A. over four years. 

While Start Right is the only PFR Proven row starter product for 2017, there are two additional products that delivered increased yields in PFR over two years. These corn products include 6-24-6 and USA 500.

In 2016, 6-24-6 showed positive yield results across Beck’s Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio PFR sites with a 8.5 Bu./A. yield increase. At Beck’s Central Illinois and Iowa PFR sites, 6-24-6 provided a 9.6 Bu./A. yield increase. The graph below shows that the two-year average ROI increase is over $20/A. with 6-24-6.

In 2015, USA 500 was tested at Beck’s Indiana, Central Illinois, and Ohio PFR sites where the maximum yield increase was 3.9 Bu./A. However, when combined with 6-24-6, there was an increase of over 14 Bu./A. at the Ohio site. Beck’s PFR will continue testing these products together to evaluate if there’s a synergistic effect.

Soybean row starter products, including First Pass® with MicroCarb ZMB™, NACHURS® Rhyzo-Link® 3-10-13, RoMax® Soybean with SoyMix, and NACHURS Triple Option® were also tested in 2016. Each of these products was compared to a control plot which had no row starter and was tested on both a fast and slower-emerging soybean variety.

At Beck’s Central Illinois and Iowa PFR sites, First Pass provided both a yield increase and a positive ROI on the fast-emerging soybean while the Indiana and Ohio PFR sites saw a yield increase with NACHURS Rhyzo-Link on the slower emerging soybean. However, with only a 2.8 Bu./A. yield increase in Indiana, there was not a positive ROI.

For more information on Beck’s PFR, click here. 

Practical Farm Research (PFR)^® is a registered trademark of Beck’s Superior Hybrids, Inc.