Bayer CropScience Cotton Belt Challenge Winners Named
Research Triangel Park, N.C. (PRWEB) August 05, 2013 -- Bayer CropScience has named the Cotton Belt Challenge™ winners for top cotton yields and highest quality from either FiberMax® or Stoneville® cotton seed varieties. More than 300 growers in 12 regions submitted entries in two categories, irrigated and dryland cotton. Growers were judged for highest cotton yield and highest USDA loan value, as a measure of fiber quality. The regional winners of each category qualified to be entered into a random drawing for two grand prizes: one for irrigated and one for dryland.
Grand prize winners, Kevin Still of Steele, Missouri, and Rondo Farms in Tillar, Arkansas, each received a customized 4WD Bad Boy® Buggies Ambush™ vehicle.
- Kevin Still won the dryland yield group for the Southeast Missouri and Northeast Arkansas region with a yield of 1,192 pounds with ST 5458B2RF.
- Rondo Farms won the irrigated yield group for the South Arkansas and Louisiana region with a yield of 1,693 pounds with ST 5288B2F.
Still said his yields with Stoneville cotton were excellent in 2012, especially given the weather during the season, and Stoneville cotton has performed on his family farms, year in and year out for almost 40 years.
“We’ve been planting Stoneville cotton since 1975, and we’ve always had good yields and early season vigor,” Still said. “We never thought we would have the dryland yields that we had last year. We were on silt loam soils with hardly any rain. The crop held up excellently, and we ended up with really good yields.”
Like Still, Steve Stevens of Rondo Farms knew they produced a good crop in 2012, but the final yield from the gin surprised him almost as much as winning the grand prize Bad Boy Buggies Ambush.
“We knew we had some good cotton because the yield monitors were looking good when we picked,” Stevens said. “I was a little surprised with the gin receipts. I was expecting three bales, maybe close to three and a half, and it was a little better than three-and-a-half bales. We wanted to take a shot at the contest, and sure enough, it was a winning number.”
Cotton Belt Challenge entries came from across the Cotton Belt with winners named in regions from California and Arizona to Virginia and the Carolinas. The success across the Cotton Belt with FiberMax and Stoneville cotton seed demonstrates the diversity and adaptability of the varieties.
“Bayer CropScience offers a wide range of FiberMax and Stoneville cotton varieties designed to enhance profitability in specific growing areas,” said Steve Nichols, U.S. agronomic manager for Bayer CropScience. “Geography, soil types, environment and management practices all play a role in performance. Cotton Agronomic Performance (CAP) trials are broadly conducted across regions in order to develop sound recommendations that optimize production for specific territories across the Cotton Belt. These trials are a good way for growers to learn about varieties that can work on their own farms.”
Regional contest winners were awarded 10,000 Innovation Plus™ points, valued at $500. The regional contest winners are:
- California and Arizona (irrigated only) – Dustin Mancebo, irrigated loan value of 95 cents with FiberMax Daytona; and Robert Knorr, irrigated yield of 2,516 pounds with FM 9170B2F
- Central and Southern Rolling Plains and Trans-Pecos area of the Southwest – Jevon and Stacey Cheuvront, irrigated loan value of 58 cents with FM 2484B2F; Craig Kitten, irrigated yield of 2,288 pounds with FM 2484B2F; Andy Moore, dryland yield and loan value of 999 pounds and 56.7 cents with FM 2484B2F
- North High Plains, North Rolling Plains and Oklahoma – Johnny Lindley, irrigated yield and loan value of 1,969 pounds and 57.7 cents with FM 9170B2F, dryland yield of 387 pounds with FM 2011GT; Kirk Moore, dryland loan value of 55 cents with FM 1740B2F
- South and East Texas - Kelly Chumchal, dryland yield of 1,736 pounds with FM 1740B2F; Darren Jost, irrigated yield and loan value of 2,320 pounds and 57.9 cents with FM 2484B2F; Anthony Multer, dryland loan value of 55.7 cents with FM 9063B2F
- South Arkansas and Louisiana – Derek Dauzat, dryland loan value of 56.3 cents with ST 5288B2F; Jared Pieroni, irrigated loan value of 54.8 cents with ST 5458B2RF; Rondo Farms (Steve Stevens and Wes Kirkpatrick), irrigated yield of 1,693 pounds with ST 5458B2RF; Rusty Russell, dryland yield of 1,230 pounds with ST 5288B2F
- Central Arkansas – Bart Turner, irrigated yield and loan value of 1,081 pounds and 49.3 cents with ST 4145LLB2
- Southeast Missouri and Northeast Arkansas – Mike Morgan, irrigated yield of 1,865 pounds with FM 1944GLB2; Danny Parker, irrigated loan value of 57.5 cents with ST 5458B2RF, dryland loan value of 56 cents with ST 5458B2RF; Kevin Still, dryland yield of 1,192 pounds with ST 5288B2F
- Mississippi – Robert Royal, dryland yield and loan value of 1,172 pounds and 52.2 cents with ST 5458B2RF; Mike Sturdivant Jr., irrigated yield of 1,672 pounds with ST 5288B2F; John Turnipseed, irrigated loan value of 54 cents with ST 5458B2RF
- Tennessee and North Alabama – Richard Jameson, irrigated loan value of 56.7 with FM 1944GLB2; Philip Rochester, dryland loan value of 57.2 cents with ST 4288B2F; Mike Tate, irrigated yield of 1,635 pounds with FM 1944GLB2; Gerald Woods Jr., dryland yield of 1,398 pounds with FM 1944GLB2
- Georgia, South Alabama and North Florida – Clay Alberson, dryland yield and loan value of 1,600 pounds and 56.3 cents with FM 1944GLB2; Ernest Joiner, irrigated loan value of 55.7 with FM 1944GLB2; Billy Sanders, irrigated yield of 1,758 pounds with FM 1944GLB2.
- Central North Carolina and South Carolina – Les Rouse, dryland yield of 1,032 pounds with FM 1944GLB2
- Virginia and Northeast North Carolina – Byrum Family Farms, Inc., dryland yield of 1,455 pounds with FM 1944GLB2; Kevin J. Lee, dryland loan value of 54 cents with ST 5288B2F and ST 5458B2RF
The diverse germplasm and trait packages of the winning FiberMax and Stoneville cotton varieties demonstrate the range and adaptability of the Bayer CropScience cottonseed portfolio.
“Bayer CropScience uses cutting-edge research to create new traits and varieties that best fit our large and diverse group of growers,” said Jeff Brehmer, U.S. product manager for FiberMax and Stoneville. “The Cotton Belt Challenge allows us to highlight FiberMax and Stoneville growers who produce exceptional cotton yields with high fiber quality within their unique regional environments.”
“In our latest response to growers’ needs, we have introduced two new Stoneville varieties for 2013 to aid in the fight against resistant weeds,” Brehmer continued. “ST 4946GLB2 and ST 6448GLB2 are the first Stoneville varieties to offer both Liberty and glyphosate herbicide tolerances. These new Stoneville varieties have excellent yield and fiber quality potential, and we expect that growers will enter these varieties into the Cotton Belt Challenge next year.”
Visit http://www.cottonbeltchallenge.us for winner information and contest details and return to the site this fall for the 2013 Cotton Belt Challenge contest announcement. For more information on how FiberMax and Stoneville cotton seed offer the right variety for the right field, contact your regional agronomist, talk to your local Bayer CropScience representative, visit http://www.FiberMax.com and http://www.Stoneville.com, or call 1-866-99-BAYER (1-866-992-2937).
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About Bayer CropScience
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and high-tech materials. This year the company is celebrating 150 years of Bayer – consistent with its mission “Bayer: Science For A Better Life”. Bayer CropScience, the subgroup of Bayer AG responsible for the agricultural business, has annual sales of EUR 8,383 million (2012) and is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of seeds, crop protection and non-agricultural pest control. The company offers an outstanding range of products including high value seeds, innovative crop protection solutions based on chemical and biological modes of action as well as an extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture. In the area of non-agricultural applications, Bayer CropScience has a broad portfolio of products and services to control pests from home and garden to forestry applications. The company has a global workforce of 20,800 and is represented in more than 120 countries. This and further news is available at: press.bayercropscience.com.
Contact:
Bayer CropScience Media Hotline, 1-877-879-6162, or
Becca Hogan
Manager of External Communications
Bayer CropScience
Tel: (919) 549-2998
Email: becca(dot)hogan(at)bayer(dot)com
Drew Harris
Rhea + Kaiser
Tel: (630) 955-2604
Email: dharris(at)rkconnect(dot)com
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Find more information at bayercropscience.us.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer’s public reports which are available on the Bayer website at bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.
Bayer CropScience LP, 2 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. Always read and follow label instructions. Bayer (reg’d), the Bayer Cross (reg’d), The Bayer CropScience Cotton Belt Challenge™, FiberMax®, Innovation Plus™, Liberty®, Stoneville® and the Variety Selector Tool™ are trademarks of Bayer. Liberty is not registered in all states. Bad Boy® Buggies Ambush™ is a trademark of Bad Boy Buggies. For additional product information, call toll-free 1-866-99-BAYER (1-866-992-2937) or visit our website at BayerCropScience.us
Becca Hogan, Bayer CropScience, LP, (919) 549-2998, [email protected]
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