New PhytoGen Variety Delivers Biggest Cottonseed Launch Ever
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
Commercial quantities of PhytoGen brand PHY 499 WRF cottonseed were available for sale in 2012 from Arizona to Virginia and the market response in every state has been strong. In total, the launch of PHY 499 WRF was the biggest cottonseed launch ever for PhytoGen.
"We had the greatest amount available that we've ever had for a cottonseed launch and we sold out," said Duane Canfield, general manager and portfolio marketing leader for PhytoGen.
PhytoGen Seed Company is a joint venture between Dow AgroSciences LLC and the J.G. Boswell Company. PhytoGen brand cottonseed varieties offer proprietary genetics and two-gene WideStrike® Insect Protection, an in-plant crop protection technology developed by Dow AgroSciences.
PhytoGen had 18 percent market share in cottonseed in 2011, putting it in third place overall. The company leads in California, with its Pima and Acala cottonseed, and is a close second in the mid South and Southeast where it is the fastest-growing brand in Upland cottonseed. It offers a full line-up of cottonseed varieties to serve the U.S. market.
What sets PHY 499 WRF apart
According to Canfield, PHY 499 WRF performed exceptionally well in Official Variety Trials across the Cotton Belt. "It performed in the top three to five in just about all OVTs and it won its OVTs a very high percentage of the time in all weather and soil conditions."
PHY 499 WRF is an early to midmaturing variety that performs well from East to West and from North to south including states that do not traditionally plant an early to mid-maturing variety. Its vigor, adaptability and ability to withstand stresses – heat, lack of water and others – sets it apart.
"It's a high yielding variety even in low-yield environments like during drought conditions in Georgia last year.," Canfield said. “It slows down but then it comes back and keeps making cotton.”
"In addition to yield, vigor is what we most often hear about from growers. Growers say ‘the cotton is jumping out of the ground’."
Growers across the Cotton Belt are buying PHY 499 WRF, according to Canfield. In addition to fitting the traditional market for early to mid-maturing varieties, it fits well with growers that had used Deltapine 555 BR or "triple nickel," a popular variety from Monsanto Co. that’s no longer on the market.
What's next
Cotton is one of the three key crops that Dow AgroSciences supports with all types of R&D including seed, trait and chemical, according to Canfield. Canfield highlighted two new products currently under development:
- Third-generation bug-killing plant technology – the follow-up to WideStrike – is expected to be ready for product registration in 2014.
- Dow AgroSciences' Enlist™ Weed Control System, a new herbicide-tolerant trait system to control resistant and tough weeds, will be available in cotton for the 2016 crop year, pending regulatory approval.
The company also invested in a new breeding location in the South and plans to ramp up cottonseed development for the high-plains West Texas market.
"We offer some products for that area now but we're focused on new variety development specifically for this market," he said.
Visit www.dowagro.com/phytogen for more information on PHY 499 WRF and PhytoGen cottonseed. More information on Dow AgroSciences is available at www.dowagro.com.
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