January 2001 Soy News

Soybeans Today January 2001

Marketing group selling new soybean variety

by Howell Medders

Ag Genetics of Arkansas, a non-profit corporation, was licensed by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture to market the new high-yielding U of A soybean variety named "Caviness."

Ag Genetics of Arkansas is a marketing group open to any qualified seed dealer or grower. Twenty-six Arkansas seed dealers are charter members, and 21 of those were licensed to market Caviness certified seed for planting in 2001, according to Terry Walker, Ag Genetics executive secretary.

Charles Scifres, Division of Agriculture associate vice president for research and dean of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, said the Ag Genetics charter preserves the features of UA crop varieties that are important to producers.

"Farmers contribute Soybean Promotion Board checkoff funds to help support the UA breeding program," Scifres said. "We were very careful to put the farmer's interest first in this process. We insisted on several things in the marketing group."

Farmers will be allowed to save seed from Ag Genetics varieties for planting on land they farm.
The group is open to any qualified seed dealer or grower. Members will contribute to an AGA marketing fund, and a foundation seed fee will be collected on each bag of certified seed to help pay for the production of genetically pure foundation seed by the U of A Division of Agriculture.
Only "blue tag" certified seed inspected by the Arkansas State Plant Board will be sold.

Ag Genetics members bought more than 9,800 fifty-pound bags of Caviness foundation seed in 2000. "That's more bags than all of the foundation seed varieties combined sold in recent years.

"Growers will have no trouble finding Caviness seed for planting in 2001," Walker said.

Terry Fuller of Fuller Seed and Supply at Poplar Grove in Phillips County is growing nearly 500 acres of Caviness soybeans to produce certified seed for his customers throughout the South.

"It will yield with the top private varieties. It's going to work in the elite group," Fuller said. "I really like the plant type."

The high yield potential of Caviness was proven in University variety trials in Arkansas, Mississippi and other states. The trials provide an objective evaluation of private and public varieties under typical growing conditions at multiple locations.

In Arkansas, the overall three-year average yield of Caviness for 1997-99 was 54.8 bushels per acre in irrigated and non-irrigated tests at all locations. The best three-year average was at Marianna, where Caviness averaged 60.5 bushels per acre. Its highest yield in 1999 was 65.2 bushels per acre at Stuttgart.

In Mississippi, the average yield of Caviness for 1997-99 in both irrigated and non-irrigated tests at all locations was 44 bushels per acre. The highest yield in Mississippi was 70.4 bushels per acre at Stoneville in 1999.

Fuller said Caviness seed will be priced below the private brands but somewhat higher than other public varieties.

"Allowing farmers to save seed for planting on land they farm and blue tag certification by the State Plant Board are big advantages compared to private varieties," he said.

Fuller said brand loyalty has proven to be a powerful factor in the marketing of soybean seed.

"If a grower has a good experience with a brand of seed, he will stay with that brand and buy the new varieties developed by the same company. That's why proprietary varieties are usually numbered and not named.

"If the growers like Caviness, it will help establish Ag Genetics as a brand name that can be trusted," Fuller said.

U of A soybean specialist Lanny Ashlock said the high yield potential of Caviness should interest many growers. It performs best on silt loam soils that are common west of Crowley's Ridge, he said.

"It's a mid-maturity Group V with a good range of performance at different planting dates, including late planting," he added.

The variety is named for University Professor Emeritus Charles Caviness. He retired in 1991 after 30 years as leader of the U of A soybean breeding team that produced nine widely grown varieties. He was succeeded by Clay Sneller, who selected "Caviness" from a breeding line that promises to produce more high-yielding varieties over the next few years, Walker said.

Public varieties developed by plant breeding teams at land-grant universities and the USDA provided the genetic foundation for Arkansas' soybean industry.

They were once the only varieties available to growers.

Legislation in the 1970s and 80s allowed private companies to, in effect, patent crop varieties. This led to private investment in major crop breeding programs.

Public soybean varieties now compete with dozens of private brand-name varieties adapted to Arkansas conditions.

"Ag Genetics will help attract the attention that we think Caviness and future highyielding varieties from the U of A and other public breeding programs deserve," Walker said.

Arkansas seed dealers selling Caviness soybeans are:

Lawhon Farm Services, McCrory; Petrus Seed and Grain, Hazen; Carter-Cox Seeds, Knobel; Osborne Seed Co., Parkin; Farmer's Supply Co., Marvell; Northeast Arkansas Seeds, Hoxie; Farmers Elevator, Newport; Trent Felton Farms, Marianna; East Arkansas Seeds, Moro; Larkan Seed Farms, Hazen; Farelly Lake-Rollison Seed Co., DeWitt.

Also, Fuller Seed and Supply, Poplar Grove; H.P. Maddox III, Jonesboro; Eagle Seed Co., Weiner; Cromer Bros., Osceola; STECO Seed Co., DeWitt; Cullum Seeds, Fisher; Cache River Valley Seeds, Cash; Taylor Seed Farms, Hickory Ridge; Lawrence County Seeds, Walnut Ridge; and Land OÕLakes, Gladstone, Mo.

Facts at a Glance

Ag Genetics of Arkansas (AGA), a non-profit corporation, will promote sales of a new University of Arkansas soybean variety named "Caviness."
Twenty-one AGA seed dealers are growing a large supply of Caviness seed for sale to farmers for the 2001 planting season.
Growers will be allowed to save seed of Caviness soybeans for planting on land they farm.
The marketing group is betting on Caviness to establish AGA as a competitive brand name for effective marketing of public crop varieties as an alternative to private varieties that dominate the seed market.

Soybeans Today January 2001
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For additional information about any board-related activity contact:

Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board
ATTN: Brandy Carroll
P.O. Box 31
Little Rock, AR 72203-0031
Phone: 501-228-1268

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