The USDA has expanded the Biotechnology Yield Endorsement program to Kansas and Nebraska under the name Risk Management Biotechnology Endorsement or BE for short.
To get the premium discount, farmers must plant at least 75 percent of their irrigated or non-irrigated acres to hybrids that have the YieldGard VT Triple, YieldGard VT Triple PRO or YieldGard Plus with Roundup Ready Corn 2 technologies. The hybrids are available from more than 250 seed companies.
More than 70 percent of Nebraska's corn acres are irrigated, while Kansas growers plant 42 percent of their corn on irrigated land. Monsanto's triple stack technologies are the only products eligible for a premium discount for irrigated practices.
In 2008, the BYE program saved growers in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Minnesota an average of $3 per acre on corn production insurance.
In addition to Kansas and Nebraska, the BE program is being expanded to Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin on non-irrigated acres.