Credit card protections come with some holes

Uncontrolled, pests and disease can attack and quickly decimate a crop, compromising both yield and quality. Properly used, crop protection products, like the herbicides, insecticides and fungicides developed and produced by CLA member companies, are indispensable tools in the fight against crop infestations. Missouri farmer, Charles Hinkebein, winner of the Missouri Soybean Association’s (MSA) 14th Annual Yield Contest in both the conventional and NoTill categories, credits his impressive yields as the direct result of the essential benefits of pesticides.

“With a clean start and a clean finish, you’re going to have a good yield, and this year it paid off,” says Hinkebein, whose yields of 109.3 bushels and 92.3 bushels per acre for the conventional and No-Till category wins exceeded both the Missouri and U.S. soybean yield averages of 38 and 43 bushels per acre.

Hinkebein, of Chaffee, MO, began using insecticides and fungicides on his soybean crop five years ago after reading of the success Brazilian and Argentinean farmers had in using them to combat soybean rust, a plant disease characterized by lesions.

“There are so many diseases that soybeans get, particularly hidden things that you can’t always see. We never realized how much of our soybean yield was being robbed by things like frog eye and brown stem root disease, letting the beans wilt away,” continues Hinkebein. “Without insecticides and fungicides, disease and insects would damage the crop–we’ve kept that from happening. We’ve seen great benefits from these products over the years -diseases cured, better yields.”

The MSA yield contest encourages farmers to try new practices to produce higher yields, identifying high-yielding strategies to then share with all soybean growers to increase overall production.

“Pesticides have long helped farmers to maximize their investment and increase their crop productivity and quality while consumers reap the rewards with abundant affordable, and nutritious food,” says Jay Yroom, CLA President and CEO. “We’re pleased our members’ products could play a role in Mr. Hinkebein’s recent achievement and in ensuring that his soybean crop continues to see significant yield increases and further successful seasons.”