Faced with the challenge of glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth pigweed, many Southern farmers have looked to the LibertyLink® soybean system as a possible solution, even if that means giving up yield potential.

However, a soybean systems trial program conducted by Monsanto in the Delta this season has demonstrated that farmers who plant Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybeans – and utilize Monsanto’s Roundup Ready PLUS™ Weed Management Solutions – can have just as clean, or even cleaner, fields than the LibertyLink soybean/herbicide system and higher yield potential.

The Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean system had an average yield advantage of 6 bushels per acre compared with the LibertyLink system in the trial program. Results were based on 20 farmer side-by-side plot locations in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and the Missouri Bootheel during 2012. At current soybean prices of about $15 per bushel, that 6-bushel-per-acre yield advantage equals additional revenue of $90 per acre for the Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield system versus the LibertyLink system.

For 2013, the side-by-side trial program will be expanded to the central Midwest, where many farmers are facing challenges with waterhemp and marestail. Trial plots are planned in eastern Kansas, central Missouri, southern Illinois, southern Indiana and Ohio.