And that’s a wrap on year two of the #EppersonE3Experience

Wow, what a year! Midwestern Missouri weather threw us for some loops this past growing season, making it another challenging year. This is the time of the year, after planting, growing, harvest and fall work, that my husband (a fourth-generation farmer), myself and our team have an opportunity to review our final year-end performance and jump head first into preparing for the 2022 growing season. At a glance, we are very concerned with rising input costs, however, pleased with rising crop prices and confident in our seed choice.

The 2021 crop is my husband and I’s third growing season completed after taking over our family farm. Wow! That feels good to say! As taught to us by our parents, we firmly believe in reflecting on the good, the bad and the ugly to make improvements for next season. After chatting with our team, here are our top three takeaways from the 2021 crop year:

1. Mother Nature gives you moisture, whether you like it or not. It was another damp, saturated year and we unfortunately had to replant a good portion of our crops. We had multiple inches of rain in a seven-day span (I’m talking approximately 7-10 inches of rain during that period - yikes!). Weather is one of the many “uncontrollable” aspects of farming. Therefore, another growing season like this one, helped us work on our controllable risks, in hopes that we could mitigate some of the uncontrollable risk and leave the rest to faith.
2. Weed control was exceptional. The season started out shaky, with us barely getting our crops planted in a timely manner, let alone getting them sprayed as quickly as we had planned. Surprisingly (pleasantly so), our weed control exceeded our expectations which allowed our crops to thrive during the growing season AND made for a smooth harvest in the fall (fighting weeds at harvest is no fun!)
3. Standability, harvestability, and overall production of our Pioneer^® brand Enlist E3^® soybeans was outstanding.

One of the most common questions I hear from other producers when asked about Pioneer brand Enlist E3 soybeans is “how does the yield compare to other traited varieties?” A very valid question considering at the end of the day, yield is king. Our Enlist E3 soybean yields were nearly identical to our other soybeans planted. With only a one-bushel difference, our Enlist E3 soybeans offered more than just a reliable yield. Because our spring was so wet and planting pushed into June, we were so grateful to have a herbicide program that had a longer application window (stage R2 or flowering). In addition to this, we were confident in the near-zero volatility of Enlist One® herbicide, and I could rest easy at night knowing that the potential for physical drift onto the neighbors crop was very little. The comparable yield with the powerful and reliable herbicide program options makes Enlist E3 soybeans a no brainer to add to our soybean portfolio.

We are facing very challenging times with herbicide availability (or lack thereof) for the next crop year. That in itself is scary and yet, our trial over the last two years with Enlist E3 soybeans, made us confident when planning and purchasing our seed for next season as the availability of the Enlist herbicide looks hopeful. With the help of our Pioneer agronomist and sales representative paired with plot/yield data from around the country, we purchased Pioneer varieties P38T05E and P39T61SE for our entire soybean crop next year.

As the farming world changes all around us daily, we are continuing to adopt new technologies on our farm. Change is hard no matter how you twist it but this change, this addition of Pioneer brand Enlist E3 soybeans into our 2022 crop plan was a no-brainer. The yield of our Enlist E3 soybeans was nearly identical to our other varieties planted, the weed control system is excellent, near zero volatility and reduced drift potential says it all. What are you waiting for? Again, I know change is hard at first but if we are not moving forward and looking for the best products, like Pioneer brand Enlist E3 soybeans, we must ask ourselves “what are we doing?” I highly recommend you reach out to your local Pioneer sales representative and give them a try.

Follow Kylie Epperson @kylieepperson_ on YouTube or on Instagram to see more of her family's experience with the Enlist™ system.