| SWKScorn - 2/29/2024 02:09
Lower seed production costs due to lower grower payments associated with lower commodity price will help by only a buck or two.
We got ourselves into this mess folks... We allowed an oligopoly with no mercy to take control. No biggy at $6.50/bu, but now we suffer.
I don't see the seed production costs to produce the seed corn going down. The potential savings for lower grower payments will be reallocated somewhere else in the production-seed processing chain to get to the final unit.
There are options!
1) Support the independent seed companies! There are still some out there - look for ones with their own breeding programs, not just ones with "access to all the genetics." Be careful of the really cheap seed. That's either off-patent genetics (old, not new or up to modern standards) or lower quality.
2) Switch to conventional corn (or keep growing it): it keeps more money away from the oligopoly/GMO trait providers. Any good conventional seed company will be able to address any questions about weed and insect management with their conventional genetics. Modern conventional genetics do not have a yield penalty. If you are seeing a GMO trait-provider's conventional hybrid underperform next to a trait-provider's GMO product, that's intentional. They are intentionally releasing the conventional version of hybrids later than the GMO version - which is why it's important to support the independent seed companies with breeding programs.
Here is an incomplete list to start with:
BASS Hybrids: https://basshybrids.com
Summit Genetics: https://www.seedislife.com
O'Brien Hybrids: https://obrienhybrids.com |
Bayer corn trait inflation to continue for 2025 seed
