March 2017 Advantage Newsletter

LEGEND SEEDS

ADVANTAGE PREPARING FOR PLANTING...

PREPARING FOR SUCCESS

MARCH / APRIL 2017

Upcoming Events

By Glen Davis, President, Legend Seeds

Spring planting is just around the corner. A couple weeks ago, I thought we were there. But there is still time for us to fine-tune our crop plans. I encourage you to take advantage of all the tools Legend Seeds offers to position yourself for succes. Our Farmacology® is a suite of tools designed to help growers maximize yields and profits. Farmacology sets us apart from the competition with value added resources that go beyond the bag of seed to give you a team approach to agronomic and product support.

The Legend Edge is a mapping and prescription planting tool that makes hybrid recommendations, plans variable populations and hybrid prescriptions to use in your planter, and helps keep a history of your field. Unlike many similar products, you retain ownership of all your data.

The Legend Elite Advancement Project (L.E.A.P.) is our replicated corn research program. This is how we compare the various hybrids and determine where they best fit to be able to recommend the optimal hybrid for your soil and management conditions. Just the other day I was looking at two different 92 Day relative maturity hybrids. One had a 30-bushel advantage on highly productive ground, but only a 4-bushel advantage in lower yield environments.

Our goal for Legend Seeds’ value is to have the lowest input cost for seed per bushel produced, not necessarily per acre planted. This is a big part of the Legend Advantage you get with Legend Seeds. We can select and tailor products and service to your needs for your profits.

Your Legend Seeds dealer, along with your Legend Account Manager and Legend Sales Agronomist, is here to assist you with any product or agronomic questions and concerns. We cannot see the future, but we can plan for it.

This spring, we need to do everything we can to plan for protecting and maximizing your yields! ADVANTAGE

NORTH AMERICAN FARM & POWER SHOW

March 16-18, 2017 Owatonna, MN

PLANTING THE SEEDS OF SUCCESS XTEND WEBINAR

March 20, 2017 - 11:30 AM See more details on back.

UNDERSTANDING SOIL HEALTH FOR MAXIMUM CORN PROFITS WEBINAR

Presented by Matt Hubsch March, 23, 2017 - 11:30 AM Register online at legendseeds.net WPS FARM SHOW

March 28-30, 2017 Oshkosh, WI

I’ve been 100% Legend Seeds for a couple years now. I’ve stuck with them because of the consistent, high yields in both their corn and soybean varieties. But more importantly, I trust the people at Legend. They are great people to deal with.

Marlyn Thorstenson - Selby, SD 2016 Yield Advantage Club Member

LEGEND LAURA: PREPARING FOR RESEARCH SEASON

By Laura Swiontek, Research and Development Coordinator

count an Instagram ac ed ch un la s ed Se ed at our replicat Last fall, Legend he-scenes look ment -t op nd el hi ev be D a d e to shar search an Re ith w m ra nd prog known as Lege corn research Swiontek- also a an ur s er La w r, to llo fo na r Coordi giving ou en be s e’ sh r, te es for another Laura. This win ch team prepar ar se re e th w s: inside look at ho of the highlight Here are some . on as se g in grow

8/17/2016 Hi! I’m Laura! I gradu ated from South Dako ta State University. I can’t wa it to share my research journey with you. Thanks for following along, I pro mise it will be interesting, behin d-the-scenes and fun ! Follow along at: @legendsee ds or #legendlaura.

1/3/2017

1/12/2017

ng the seed r spring and getti y I’m preparing fo da er r one hybrid nt fo wi s ld ed co se is s On th one contain ch Ea g. tin been an pl r fo lopes to label! I’ve envelopes ready I have LOTS of enve st.

I’ll te d ll wi an e, we riv at ar th replication ek, the seed will for DAYS! Next we labeling envelopes e. on urs filling each spend countless ho seeds • 1 envelope = 100 foot rows 25 o tw = • 100 seeds tion = one trial replica • Two 25 foot rows ot pl e replicated test • Three acres = on ns tio al replica • One plot = 748 tri ch plots 12 planned resear x ns tio ica • 748 repl s • 8,976 data point en through over ble genetics, prov lia re d, ste te y all It all adds up to loc years! s in the last three 25,000+ data point

1/30/2017

Team has picked our The Legend Seeds Research . Everything we do, tion ova inn r: word of the yea the high-yielding, from start to finish, is to deliver from Legend Seeds. ect exp consistent genetics you arch program, it L.E.A.P. is our proprietary rese ement Project. My stands for Legend Elite Advanc ded map of how r-co colo computer screen shows a this year. We ed aniz org be will our research plots lications in 2017 -will have over 8,500 corn rep arch to bring innovative that’s how we use local rese . products to your farm

I’m filling 8,976 se ed packets for our replicated corn tri and ordering them als this summer, in the four long bo xes on the table at in Hitterdal, Minn our warehouse esota. I’m about 40 % done packing an commercial produc d sorting our t numbers; then I will move into pack deployed hybrids aging our newly and experimental numbers from ou r genetic provider s.

LEGEND SEEDS ADVANTAGE TRACKING GROWING DEGREE UNITS

By Jeff Sorenson, Legend Sales Agronomist

Growing Degree Units (GDU) is a measurement of the amount of heat needed for a corn plant to reach various stages such as tassel or maturity. Tracking GDUs is important for corn because it is not daylight determined (like soybeans) so daily temperature drives how fast or slow a corn plant grows and matures each year. Since the temperatures vary from year to year, this can be a valuable calculation to know if a summer is unusually warm or cool. Your GDUs will help determine when fields will be ready for harvest. In the Legend Seeds product guide we include a GDU number for each hybrid. This number is much more accurate than looking at the maturity of a corn hybrid, because some corn hybrids may get to maturity fast and then dry down slowly. This explains how you could have both a 95 Day RM corn and a 100 Day RM corn that each need 2,400 GDUs to reach maturity.

Low-Tech Tracking: Keeping track of GDUs for your fields or farm is very simple. You can do this calculation all on your own, the only numbers you have to know are the high and low temperature of each given day in the growing season. Here are some rules: • Start tracking the day the corn is planted. It should take about 125 GDUs for the corn plants to emerge. This is greatly dependent on a number of variables such as, residue on the soil, moisture, planting date, and depth of planting.

2/1/2017

ted corn trials are: ions for the replica at ke loc d ze ali fin r Ou ND; Pierre, SD; La urg, ND; Casselton, MN; , ax irf Fa N; Minot, ND; Strasb M d, Falls, MN; Richmon WI. Preston, SD; Fergus , IA; and Galesville, er, WI; Rembrandt om ct!

Blo oje N; Pr M , .P. va .A ne Ge 2017 L.E the stakes for our s Today, I’m prepping ed; there are stake niz ga or s ot pl r ou ep ke d to an w em ro We use th each 25-foot middle and end of . at the beginning, 256 stakes per plot of l ta ot. That’s a to em! th of 12 1,3 ng throughout the pl pi s and I’m prep ion at loc at 12 es I’m e tim Take that know wher the stakes let me ot pl re .P. ac .A 3L.E ch ke ea ta Within as we plant, I’m working with s id br t. hy es at rv wh ha d g an durin er, and collect data notes in the summ

• To calculate use the following equation: GDU = (Daily High Temperature + Daily Low Temperature)/2 – 50 • If the high temperature is above 86, still use 86. Never use a number greater than 86. If the low temperature is below 50, still use 50. Never use a number lower than 50.

•E xample 1: If the daily high for April 29th was 75° F and the low was 55° F the equation would look like this: 75 + 55 = 130 ► 130 / 2 = 65 ► 65 – 50 = 15 GDU •E xample 2: If the daily high on July 10th was 90° F and our low was 49° F the equation would look like this: 86 + 50 = 136 ► 136 / 2 = 68 ► 68 - 50 = 18 GDU • Add up all the daily GDUs to track the cumulative GDUs for the growing season thus far.

• Contact your Legend Seeds Representative about a free printable worksheet for tracking these calculations.

High-Tech Tracking: Don’t want to do the math yourself? Here are a couple more automated methods. The Legend Edge, part of our Farmacology® offerings, offers hybrid placement solutions, field mapping and many other features. It also tracks the daily and cumulative GDU for you on each field. With this option, the work is done for you! Secondly, you can also purchase special thermometers that track the calculation for you wherever the thermometer is located. ADVANTAGE

3/2/2017

Here is an example of las t year’s replicated corn plot near Richmond, Minnesota. Thi s shows the final result of the work I’ve been doing in Januar y and February: 8,976 see d packets and 1,312 stakes at 12 loc ations in five states! Fol low aloADVANTAGE Instagram @legendseed ng on s as I continue to prepar e and plant this spring! Thanks for readin g!

SEEDS of SUCCESS NAR I B E W E E R F A Monday, March 20th 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Register online at legendseeds.net or bit.ly/XtendWebinar2

Increase your profit and performance when you learn about planting Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® Soybeans -- the most advanced soybean technology available today -- on your acres this growing season. Hear from industry experts on the benefits of the Roundup Ready 2 Xtend Crop System, proper herbicide application, and real-world yield data and product placement recommendations.

Agenda:

• Value of Xtend Crop System to Our Producers • Proper Application and New Label Updates • Legend Seeds’ Xtend Product Lineup and Placement

ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW, IRM, WHERE APPLICABLE, GRAIN MARKETING, STEWARDSHIP PRACTICES AND PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS Glyphosate herbicides will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate. Dicamba herbicides will kill crops that are not tolerant to dicamba. Acceleron®, Genuity®, Roundup Ready 2 Xtend®, Roundup Ready 2 Yield®, Roundup Ready PLUS®, Roundup Ready®, Roundup®, SR Design®, VaporGrip™, and XtendiMax™ are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC. Individual results may vary, and performance may vary from location to location and from year to year. This result may not be an indicator of results you may obtain as local growing, soil and weather conditions may vary. Growers should evaluate data from multiple locations and years whenever possible. Not all dicamba Formulations are approved for in-crop use in all states.

PO Box 241 De Smet, SD 57231