IARN — Bayer’s SmartStax PRO with RNAi Technology is ready to battle corn rootworm this growing season.
Corn rootworm doesn’t distinguish between farms and hybrids. It has a single mission and that is to eat all of the corn plants that it can and grow the species. Lauren Botine, Channel technical agronomist in western Iowa, says corn rootworm is what they call the “billion-dollar pest.”
“Our seedsmen are working with farmers to get (corn rootworm) at top of mind when placing products and when preparing for the next planting season. We are going to work with our SmartStax products and now we have SmartStax PRO coming, and we have some commercially available this year. Next year, we will have a big launch of that to have for our customers. We are very excited about that with Channel.”
Botine says Bayer is proud of the way its SmartStax Technology has led the corn rootworm attack in the Midwest. As she mentioned, new for 2022 is a product called SmartStax PRO with RNAi Technology.
“SmartStax PRO is going to be our elite seed genetics. We’ve got seamless transition into the PRO side of things. Everything is going to yield just as well – if not better – as with our current lineup. It will have that added RNAi Technology component to it to protect against corn rootworm and help against that pesky pest.”
Botine says rotating corn on corn acres is a strong defense against rootworms. Combining that with new traits and the latest technology can do a lot to give you success in your fight with these pests.
“I’m excited for planting season and I’m excited about things coming down the pipe in the Channel brand and for Bayer as well. We’ve got SmartStax PRO HT4 soybeans and VT4PRO corn coming down the pipe. We’re just excited to have that available for customers. Our seedsmen are going to be there every step of the way to help make those recommendations for our customers.”
Visit Channel Seed’s website to learn more about SmartStax PRO with RNAi Technology. Botine made her comments to the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network at the 2022 Commodity Classic in New Orleans.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
Pictured: Lauren Botine, Channel technical agronomist in western Iowa, at the 2022 Commodity Classic in New Orleans. (Photo by Brent Barnett)
