February 2013 special edition for Northern Business Unit of DuPont Pioneer.

1. February 8, 2013 - Special Edition
Optimizing Soybean Planting Populations in 2013
2012 Weather Conditions & Effects on Seed Quality Handling This Year’s Soybean Seed
High temperatures and drought conditions throughout the A hot dry finish to the 2012 soybean seed crop has resulted in
pod and seed development stages resulted in some seed lots soybeans with lower moisture than historical averages and
with: with thinner seedcoats resulting in fragile soybeans that are
 Irregularly shaped seed more easily damaged by handling.
 Wrinkled seed coats
 Other physical effects Steps to reduce handling damage:
 Fragile seed coat  Minimize the distance soybeans fall to hard surfaces,
less than 1 foot is most desirable.
These industry-wide problems have resulted in germinations  Consider a belt-type conveyor and try to avoid any
that are 5 to 10% lower than normal in some cases. Standard type of auger system
warm germinations for much of the seed will be 85% this year,  Reduce handling if possible and minimize box to box
compared to 90% normally. In addition, specific lots of some movements. Avoid rough handling of seed bags and
varieties will be offered at lower germination labels to help large drops.
customers avoid supply shortfalls.  Keep seed treaters running near capacity when
treating.
Seeding Rate & Planter Recommendations
To calculate a seeding rate, Use the following equation:
EXAMPLE:
Seeding Rate = Seeding Rate for a 150,000 desired plant population=
Desired Plant Population 150,000
(% Germ) x (% Pure Seed) x (% Live Seed Emergence*) 85% Germ x 98% Pure Seed x 97% emergence
*Normal emergence factor 95-97%, potential = 187,500 seeds per acre planting rate
tough/crusted environments factor 90-92%
Quick view seeding rate adjustment chart below for 30” row spacing assuming normal emergence environment.
Desired Final Stand
Germ %
120,000 130,000 140,000 150,000 160,000 170,000
90%
141,000 152,000 164,000 175,000 187,000 199,000
85%
150,000 161,000 173,000 186,000 198,000 210,000
80%
158,000 171,000 184,000 197,000 210,000 224,000
Summary
 Several factors influence seeding rates such as row spacing, seed germination rate and emergence environment.
 Utilize seed treatments to minimize additional factors of stand establishment.
 Read the seed tag for each bag or unit and make seeding rate adjustments accordingly.
 Consult your Pioneer Sales Representative for additional field to field recommendations.

2. Northern BU 2013 Corn Rootworm Management Recommendations
What we Currently Know What we Currently Do Not Know
 Resistance can lead to trait failure and result in sig-  How widespread is Cry3Bb1 (VT3P) resistance?
nificant yield loss from rootworms. EPA has noted problem fields in MN, IA, IL, NE3
 Field evolved western corn rootworm resistance to  How long will corn rootworm traits last?
Monsanto VT3, VT3P (Cry3Bb1) products has been
documented.1,2,4  What are the long term rootworm population
trends?
 No documented resistance to the Herculex® RW
(HXRW) insect protection trait in Pioneer® brand  How rootworm resistance could spread?
Optimum® AcreMax® 1 (AM1) Optimum AcreMax  Cross resistance to other traits?
Xtra (AMX) and Optimum AcreMax XTreme (AMXT)
products.
 No documented cross-resistance between Monsan-
to VT3, VT3P products and HXRW rootworm trait in
Pioneer AM1, AMX, AMXT products.2,4
 Pioneer believes any messaging that all single-trait
below ground products are failing is misleading.
2013 CRW Management Options
*CRW pressure is based on 2012 beetle and root ratings observations
Report any performance problems to your Pioneer sales representative.
1
Gray 2012 http://farmprogress.com/story-resistance-cry3bb1-confirmed-illinois-0-62497
2
Gray 2012 Continuing Evolution Confirmed of Field Resistance to Cry3Bb1 in Some Illinois Fields by Western Corn Rootworm, University of Illinois Bulletin, Issue No. 20, Article 2/August
24, 2012.
3
USEPA 2011 “Updated BPPD IRM Review of Reports of Unexpected Cry3Bb1 Damage” http://www.regulations.gov/#!searchResults;rpp=10;po=0;s=EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0922
4
Gassmann et al. 2011 “Field-Evolved Resistance to Bt Maize by Western Corn Rootworm” www.plosone.org
Herculex® Insect Protection technology by Dow AgroSciences and Pioneer Hi-Bred. ® Herculex and the HX logo are registered trademarks of Dow AgroSciences LLC. Liberty®, LibertyLink and
the Water Droplet Design are trademarks of Bayer. ® YieldGard, the YieldGard Corn Borer design, and Roundup Ready are registered trademarks used under license from Monsanto Compa-
ny. Agrisure® is a registered trademark of, and used under license from, a Syngenta Group Company. Agrisure® technology incorporated into these seeds is commercialized under a license
from Sygnenta Crop Protection AG. Poncho ® and VOTiVO® are registered trademarks of Bayer.
The DuPont Oval Logo is a registered trademark of DuPont.
®, TM, SM Trademarks and service marks of Pioneer. ©2013 PHII.

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This Walking Your Fields newsletter
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WALKING YOUR FIELDS® newsletter is brought to you by your local account manager for DuPont Pioneer. It is sent to customers several times throughout the growing season, cour-
tesy of your Pioneer sales professional. PIONEER® brand products are provided subject to the terms and conditions of purchase, which are part of the labeling and purchase docu-
ments. ®, TM, SM Trademarks and service marks of Pioneer. © 2013 PHII. The DuPont Oval Logo is a registered trademark of DuPont.