Performance, Service and Technology:

After farming for more than 50 years, Ronald Wingfield has seen just about every agronomic challenge and weather‐related obstacle you can think of. And for more than a decade, he’s chosen to plant NK^® corn and soybeans on his Ohio farm because he believes they perform as well as or better than competitive products, no matter what Mother Nature throws at them.

“NK corn has always performed well for me,” Wingfield shares. “I’ve run it in some trials with other stuff, like DEKALB^®, Beck’s^® and Pioneer^®, and in my trials, NK has always been right there at the top, so I’ve stayed with it.”

— Ronald Wingfield, Farmer

It’s a decision that appeared to pay off for him in late 2021. He had not yet finished harvesting in late October, but was already seeing 200+ Bu/A yields from one of his favorite NK corn hybrids (NK0472‐5222), which he said was “excellent” for replanting after a wet spring. “They stood pretty well through damp soils, and we didn’t have the Tar Spot issues that some did,” says Wingfield. “Our standability was far better than some, and they looked a lot better. I still have to harvest, but they seem to perform at the top all the time, and I’ve always liked their quality, standability and test weight, which have been excellent this year, too.”

Wingfield says he’s quick to recommend that his neighbors take a look at NK for themselves — not just for the performance and yields, but also for the support behind them. “Any time I have had a problem where I needed to replant my NK, my NK Seeds representative and my local seed dealer were out here right away, 100% behind me,” he says. “My local NK sales representative always takes the time to go over the characteristics of the NK hybrids I’m considering and the different hybrids I should choose from, so I’m very happy with that.”

For 2021, Wingfield’s seed selections included several NK brand Enlist E3^® soybean varieties, which he says yielded 65‐70 Bu/A ‐ a nice increase from his typical average of 55‐56 Bu/A. He also planted and had great success with several NK brand Roundup Ready 2 Xtend^® soybean varieties in 2021. “I had 300 acres of NKS33‐2E3 that averaged more than 68 Bu/A, and my S35‐K9X, averaged 70 Bu/A. These yields are 10‐15 bushels over everything else despite wet early weather.”

Wingfield says these yields would have been hard to imagine when he started planting NK a decade ago. “Ten years ago, when we experienced drought or beating rains, our yields would have been down in the 30s,” he recalls.

Wingfield plants about 95% of his acres to NK now. He relies on NK’s AgriEdge^® technology to help simplify his record keeping across crops, products and growing seasons. “I enter all my data points into NK AgriEdge and it’s easy to compare and contrast varieties, calculate my cost per acre and see how my investment pays off,” he says. “The last 8‐10 years NK has improved every year ‐ they always produce quite well and I’ve never had an NK product that fell apart or didn’t perform for me.”