Position Products for Success

It is time to focus on the upcoming growing season. The next couple of months offer a great time to sit down with your Burrus Representative to create a planting plan. Product placement and planting population are two variables which we directly control. Placing the right products in the right environment can set the stage for success. This article covers a few items to consider when doing this.

Maturity

Planting a range of maturities is recommended to hedge weather risk during the growing season because no one is certain what the year will bring. To create a framework, ask yourself questions like, “Are there certain fields that need to be planted first to facilitate early harvest?” Many growers prefer to start close by the main farmstead to work out the kinks when determining planting order. Selecting a slightly earlier maturity may be appropriate to facilitate this as well. It is important to note that each day increase in relative maturity results in an average gain of 2 bushels of yield and 0.5 point of moisture. Selecting a hybrid with strong vigor ratings may be appropriate since early-season conditions tend to be wetter and cooler. Our 2026 corn lineup includes a range of 97 to 116-day relative maturity products.

CROP ROTATION

Crop rotation also plays an important role in product selection. If a field is going into a second year of corn, it is prudent to select a hybrid that has the corn-on-corn designation in the Burrus Product Selection Guide. This will help ensure it has the agronomics and disease package to handle the stress that occurs with continuous corn. It is also important to assess the corn rootworm pressure that may be present in your area. Burrus currently offers SmartStax® PRO, Vorceed™, and Qrome® hybrids to combat this pest and protect your crops throughout the growing season. Burrus provides choice by offering most trait platforms that are available in the marketplace.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT

Establishing realistic yield goals for each field can help with product placement and dialing in the correct planting population. Each hybrid responds to increasing population differently at varying yield levels. At Burrus, we conduct population trials at many locations that represent varying yield levels. The goal is to ensure that we have the proper hybrid on the right acre to maximize overall performance and consistency. Throughout our testing, we have embraced a concept called optimum ear size (OES). This acknowledges that each hybrid plant has a specific range of grain that it will make efficiently. The aim of this concept is to maximize individual ear consistency throughout the field. All product OES information can be found on our Corn Planting Rates chart. The MyFarms precision ag platform, which is free to all Burrus customers, can help create a planting plan for each field using the same criteria above. Your Burrus Representative can help walk you through this program to create a customized planting plan for your farm.

The Burrus Listen, Learn, Best Fit approach means we are there to tailor a solution to your direct needs on a field-by-field level. Nobody knows your ground better than you, and nobody knows the Burrus products better than the Burrus Account Managers and Agronomy Team. By coming together, we can help you optimize your farm’s yield potential.