Oswald No-Till Farm Cleghorn, IA | Greetings.
First, for Iowa Mark....
Garst and Thomas had the western corn belt for Pioneer up till about 1983 if memory serves. The production , marketing relationship between G & T families and Hybred International had run for a number of decades and if memory serves TOM Urban with Hybred Int’l took the opportunity to unhook from G & T . This opened the door for another competitor (Garst) which in my opinion helped break the huge market share dominance of “Pioneer” . One can speculate on the motives by Pioneer Int’l to push the break (ego, personality differences, who knows) but the split occurred. Some on here will remember Garst becoming ICI and I believe being absorbed by Syngenta. Those hybrids Garst was selling after the split were mostly Holden background.
Holden was sued by Pioneer for flashlight corn breeding (theft) of Pioneer genetic material. This was an early legal test case for DNA testing when Pioneer demonstrated that the genetic finger print of some genetics being sold by Holden too closed matched that of some Pioneer genetics. That was called gell electrophoresis.
Today, DNA type testing is a critical component of genetic advancement. The meeting I am sitting the past few days (soybean breeders workshop) would make your head melt as they get down to molecular level breeding discussions. It did mine.
On brands vs. hybrids within brands, I wish folks on here would specify the problem hybrids rather than “Pioneer” or “Dekalb”. Full disclosure, I plant both, my seed bill is high. That’s another discussion.
This discussion suggests that products from company A or B are all bad. That just isn’t intellectually honest across all products, maturities, or areas. Yes, some companies have done a better job at positioning than others. Well worth debate.
The problem is, and may always be, that we expect race horse genetics to be yield stable and agronomicly sound as less racey products. I think it possible we have moved product offerings to more racey types due to our awareness of yield and demand for such. Is it our requests or companies offerings (chicken, egg) that have caused this, I am not sure? IT is what it is.
I have a lot of thought on such topics from years of experience (10 years selling Pioneer, 1987-1997) and farming over 35 years.
It all boils down to management in the genetics you buy and how you “drive” those products. I am happy guys have found success from small, regional, unique companies. The collapse of the small company system as Holden was acquired by MON and licensing agreements for Technology (GMO) tied hands of small companies’ ability to be creative. There’s a chance that new gene jockey Technology might change that...but those companies might be from the S.F. Bay Area or where ever.
Sorry to ramble. But as noted earlier, please be more specific in what the seed product was and the circumstance of disappointment. And, there must have been a reason you planted it. I doubt anyone held a gun to your head. If you feel it was misrepresented then that’s important to note.
Wish you all well with your selections. |
After 30 years
