I’m pleased to inform you that the changes we made to our soybean research program were a resounding success! The decision to hire other companies to plant and harvest our Latham Elite trials allowed our Product Team members to observe and take notes at a greater number of locations and across a wider geographic area. In previous years, our own crew could only plant and harvest 11 or 12 locations in Iowa and southern Minnesota. We would then hire another company to do the same at about five or six locations in northern Minnesota and North Dakota. This year we were able to plant and harvest 33 locations in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota!
Latham Seeds’ Product Team will evaluate the yield data and correlate notes taken to see which products are a good fit for Latham Country. During that same time, Latham’s Regional Sales Managers (RSMs) and Dealers will be surveyed to determine what products are needed based on input they receive from our customers. Then, and only then, will new products be added to our 2023 lineup.
Once we identify products from the Elite Trials that meet Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds’ standards and fulfill our customers’ needs, we release them for sale. We also place these new products in our Latham Showcase plots, as well as in the independent F.I.R.S.T. Trials program, to again showcase the performance of these new products and to provide opportunities for our customers to gain confidence in their performance.
It has been my great honor and pleasure working for the Latham family for more than 25 years – first, as an agronomist, then as Soybean Product Manager and, for a dozen or so years as overall Product Manager. When Bill and Don Latham hired me in 1996, I had high hopes this would eventually lead to this being my dream job. I was looking for an opportunity to work in Research and Product Development. It certainly was everything I had hoped it would be. I can honestly say that I’ve never regretted the decision – not even once!
Along the way, I’ve met farmers, dealers, sales personnel, fellow employees and colleagues from numerous areas. I am proud to call many of you my friends. I’d like to thank the Latham family for placing their trust in me. I especially want to thank John, Shannon and Chris for allowing me to “spread my wings,” so I could be more involved in all of the products we handle. As for the future, I know that I’m leaving the company in the best of hands.
This is the final article I will write for TECHtalk as I am retiring at the end of 2021. I’m looking forward to spending more time with my family, traveling and pursuing some hobbies that I’ve put on hold for a few years. I wish you all the best as you continue to work in this great business of agriculture. May God richly bless you always!
By robbing farmers of more than 100 million bushels annually, Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN) is estimated to be the #1 yield-robbing soybean pest or disease in the United States. Farmers may scream over lost yield this fall, but SCN is considered a “silent yield robber” due to a lack of above-ground symptoms in most fields.
I’m very hopeful that – even with the dry weather – our production fields can achieve an overall average year for production with sufficient seed for soybean sales in 2022.
Mother Nature throws a few curveballs each season and 2021 is no exception. Our crops are suffering from drought, but weeds are thriving across Latham Country. Herbicides are not as effective when weeds are not “actively growing” as has been the case this season. Grass herbicide tank mixes were much less effective this year due to dry growing conditions and antagonism in the plant.