Research Looks at Practice of Saving Roundup Ready® (RR1) Soybean Seed

Research Looks at Practice of Saving Roundup Ready® (RR1) Soybean Seed

February 17, 2016

Farmers have the opportunity to save seed from Roundup Ready® (RR1) varieties from year-to-year for planting purposes with the potential to reduce seed costs and improve net income compared to buying seed for commercial Roundup Ready® 2 Yield (RR2Y) varieties. With all of the new seed technologies available, is the practice of saving and planting RR1 seed a good option for today's growers?  That's one of the questions UNL researchers explored over a three-year study and write about in today's Cornhusker Economics.

The issue has multiple dimensions that have to be considered including the quality and cost of saved (bin-run) seed versus commercial seed, the yield potential of RR1 and RR2Y varieties, and the meeting of legal restrictions.

In this week's issue of Cornhusker Economics Stephen Mason, professor of agronomy, and Cory Walters, assistant professor of agricultural economics, discuss research they conducted at the NU Agricultural Research and Development Center near Mead from 2012 to 2014 and what their findings indicate about this seed-saving practice. Co-authors are Tomie Galusha, agronomy research technologist; Roger Wilson, budget analyst and farm management specialist, agricultural economics; and Zaher Kmail, graduate student, statistics.

Findings

In western Corn Belt areas with similar soil and environmental conditions to those in this study, saving RR1 seed for succeeding years should be a viable alternative for soybean producers. In this study, saved RR1 seed, on average, provided an additional $26.61 per acre in net returns over commercial RR2Y.

Read the full article at Saving Roundup® Ready Soybean Seed.

Read more articles on farm management, agricultural policies, and agricultural economics in previous issues of Cornhusker Economics.


 

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