Group 0 and Group 1 soybean varieties ready for this year’s planting

Dairyland Seed Co., Inc. has announced the release of the first Group 0 and early Group 1 stacked-trait soybean varieties known to have stacked herbicide tolerance.  These high-yielding varieties have resistance to both Roundup^® and STS^®, and were developed specifically for the Red River Valley.  These varieties will have limited availability for the 2005 growing season.

“We are excited to be able to bring these soybean varieties to producers,” explains Tom Strachota, CEO of Dairyland Seed. “These new varieties offer soybean producers more options in their weed control program.”

With the largest independent plant breeding program in the industry, Dairyland Seed has 12 plant breeders working to develop high-yielding, elite germplasm. Widely recognized in the industry, Dairyland Seed’s research brought to market the world’s first herbicide tolerant soybeans in 1993.

Dairyland Seed’s research program spans nearly three decades, and its locations are spread throughout the United States and the world. The company has spent more than 20 years researching soybean varieties specifically adapted to the Red River Valley.

The uniformly high pH levels of the soils in the Red River Valley, coupled with the longer days and, short growing season, presented unique challenges to Dairyland researchers. “We worked in several different geographies to attempt to replicate the conditions of the valley,” says Bill Campbell, soybean breeder with Dairyland Seed. “We determined more than 20 years ago that to develop soybeans specific to the Red River Valley, our breeding program needed to focus on the valley.”

This effort led to a number of Dairyland’s varieties holding true to maturity in the unusual 2004 growing season. “Our researchers understand the growing conditions of the Red River Valley. Through this research we will bring a number of high-yielding new soybean varieties that are true to maturity in the Red River Valley for the coming season,” Strachota says.

Dairyland Seed Co., Inc. is a family owned seed company with research programs in soybeans, hybrid corn, hybrid alfalfa and alfalfa. Its breeding programs, established in 1962, include company breeding and nursery facilities in Clinton, Wis., Gibson City, Ill., Otterbein, Ind., Gilbert, Iowa, and Sloughhouse, Cal. Dairyland Seed also owns and operates an alfalfa seed conditioning facility in Homedale, Idaho.

Roundup is a trademark of, and used under license from, Monsanto Co.
STS is a registered trademark of the DuPont Co.