Survey finds that 78 percent of U.S. corn growers have missed the optimum planting dates

Large, Medium or Small – All Operations Blame Weather

It’s no surprise that weather delays cause some farmers to miss their optimum corn planting dates each year.

But what might astound some observers is how widespread the problem is. According to a December 2004 survey of 3,057 corn growers, 78% of respondents – nearly four of every five – said they’ve been forced to plant at least some of their corn after the optimum date for their area.

Survey participants mentioned soil conditions and competition from other farm activities or off-farm responsibilities as reasons for delayed planting. But they cited bad weather as the main factor by an overwhelming margin – 94 percent of the time.

Landec Ag, Inc., sponsored the survey on planting-related topics in December 2004. Landec Ag is the developer of Intellicoat^® Early Plant Corn^® technology. Early Plant Corn features a temperature-sensitive polymer coating that enables growers to plant into cold soils – as much as four weeks earlier than normal – without the risk of chilling injury.

Survey results show that timely planting is a pervasive problem for corn growers regardless of operation size or even planter size, according to Tom Crowley, chief executive officer of Landec Ag.

“The survey tells us that farmers, without regard for the size of their operation, miss their optimum planting windows at least some of the time,” Crowley said. “Farmers with more acres miss more often than those with smaller operations. Almost 80 percent of corn growers with 250 to 1,000-plus acres said they had experienced delayed-planting challenges.”

Size of planter was even less of a factor, he added. “Whether they had four- or six-row planters, or units larger than 12 rows, the percent of those farmers who said don’t always get corn planted on time ranged from 76 to 79 percent,” Crowley said. “Again, that’s not statistically different.”

Interest in Early Plant Corn Technology

The survey also asked corn growers about their level of interest in the Intellicoat Early Plant Corn technology.

“We wanted to confirm that corn growers saw a benefit from the technology,” Crowley said. “Fully 78 percent of the respondents said they were somewhat or very interested in Early Plant Corn. Given the extent of the challenges corn farmers say they face with delayed planting, that’s not a big surprise. The findings are consistent with a 2001 Rockwood Research study, which also suggested that the greatest benefit would be achieved with use of Early Plant Corn on 25 percent of an operation’s acres.”

Intellicoat Early Plant seed coating technology enables farmers to plant corn into cold soils without the risk of chilling injury, allowing farmers to plant as much as four weeks earlier than normal. With the coating, early-planted corn begins germination in more favorable soil conditions, providing for emergence at the optimum time. This helps reduce planting delays, spread out spring workloads, minimize drying costs, and maximize the full yield potential of their seed corn investment.

“Last year (2004) was really just a trial year for us, and we’re selling a lot more Intellicoat^® Early Plant Corn^® hybrids this year,” said Scott Beck, Beck’s Hybrids of Atlanta, Indiana. “We believe it’s a good tool for our customers to consider, just as they would look at using insect control traits. Intellicoat Early Plant is an especially useful tool for reducing yield losses from late planting.  We think adoption will continue to grow.”

Intellicoat Early Plant seed coating is currently marketed through nine seed partners: Beck’s Hybrids; Dyna-Gro Seed, a division of United Agri Products of Greeley, Colorado; Fielder’s Choice Direct of Monticello, Indiana; Horizon Genetics of Mason City, Illinois; Hubner Seed Co., Inc., of West Lebanon, Indiana; Legend Seed of De Smet, South Dakota; Ottilie Seed of Marshalltown, Iowa; Seed Consultants, Inc., of Washington Court House, Ohio; and Southern States of Richmond, Virginia.

To learn more about Intellicoat Early Plant technology, call toll free, 1-800-241-7252, or visit www.intellicoat.com.

Landec Ag’s parent company, Landec Corporation (NASDAQ: LNDC), designs, develops, manufactures, and sells temperature-activated and other specialty polymer products for a variety of food, agricultural and licensed partner applications. 

NOTE: Intellicoat, Early Plant and Intelimer are registered trademarks of Landec Corporation.