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Hornbeck holds field day
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Copy"There's a lot that goes into a soybean."
Farmers from Arkansas, Mississippi and southeast Missouri saw for themselves just what goes into today's soybeans during field days last week at Hornbeck Agricultural. Hornbeck representative Graig Coleman explained that a big part of the programs was showing participants just how much technology and research are changing the simple soybean.
Hornbeck is one of only 13 companies that actually does its own breeding programs in the U.S. The company also does disease screening and carries on extensive research into improving soybeans. The company is looking to spread the word about its extensive research programs.
"It's the best-kept secret in Arkansas County," Coleman said.
Participants in the field day programs visited the lab, green houses, research farm and demonstration plots. Coleman explained that researchers "usedto have send everything to the University [of Arkansas) to be tested. Now we can do it right here."
One process that has speeded up the development of new products is molecular marking. "It used to take 10 years to get something new to the market," Coleman said, because the only way to test something was to actually grow it and see what happened. Molecular marking speeds up the process, and the times needed to develop new products is getting down to as little as three years.
Coleman explained that Hornbeck even has a nematologist on the staff. Her job is to grow nematodes and infect plants with them to find new ways to combat them.
About 30 percent of the current research is going intoconventional soybeans, another 30 percent into Liberty Link soybeans and 40 percent into Round Up Ready 2 soybeans, which are expected to be ready about 2011. Coleman said this is meant to give farmers alternatives to Round Up Ready soybeans. In some areas, weeds are becoming more resistant to Round Up, so the goal is to give farmers "another option."
Coleman estimated that about 100 people came for the field days programs. "In the last few years, we really got to bringing them in," he said.
Copyright 2009 DeWitt Era-Enterprise, DeWitt, Arkansas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.
© 2009 DeWitt Era-Enterprise DeWitt, Arkansas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.
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