FROM THE FARM REPORT: IS EXPENSIVE SILAGE CORN SEED WORTH THE COST?

When the corn is in the bunk and field work wraps up for the season, some forage producers already start thinking ahead about what they are planting next year. A few operations may even choose to purchase seed before the end of the year to take full advantage of early-purchase discounts. While these discounts may not look like a lot, they can amount to tens of thousands of dollars for large operations. Even if you have to take delivery of your seed early, the savings in one year would easily pay for a mouse-proof shipping container for seed storage. Just don’t leave seed in it during the summer unless you get the container out of the hot sun.

While early purchase is one way to save money on corn seed, it’s not the only way. As it turns out, the price of corn seed varies considerably depending on who you buy it from and what technology packages you choose. In 2024 we ran a replicated trial on ten different corn hybrids. Four of the hybrids were the cheapest conventional hybrids we could get our hands on, and four were higher-cost, name-brand hybrids that also came in a conventional version. We further included two of these same (isogenic) higher-cost hybrids with full technology packages (both glyphosate tolerance and above/below ground pest control traits). Both cost groups of corn had approximately the same average relative maturity.

From a cost standpoint, we paid approximately $69/acre more for the higher-priced seed as compared to the lower-priced seed (assuming 32,000 seeds/acre). The hybrid versions that contained the full technology packages ran us about $53/acre more than the conventional counterparts.

After totaling the yields for the season, we found that the group of higher-priced corn hybrids yielded almost two tons more than the lower-priced hybrids when adjusted to 35% dry matter. At the current value of corn silage, it appears that this yield benefit would justify the additional seed cost per acre. As for the technology packages, there was no significant difference in yield. While one did average slightly higher in yield than its conventional counterpart, this difference wouldn’t justify the added cost even if it was a true difference.

Surprisingly, while the higher-priced corn did yield more, we didn’t see a meaningful difference in forage quality. Nor did we see much of a difference by adding the technology package. This means that, BMR aside, you shouldn’t automatically assume that cheap seed will be of inferior quality.

We recognize that this was a limited, 1-year study with only a few hybrids in each group. However, the results confirm some of the observations that have been made in other studies. At least here at Miner Institute, we are not consistently seeing an economic benefit from purchasing advanced technology packages for pest control. While this may not be the case across the board, I suggest that farmers do their own testing whenever possible to ensure that pest resistance hasn’t become a limiting factor. While some view Bt technology packages as “insurance” it’s not necessarily “cheap” insurance. Overreliance on traits as a sole pest management strategy is a great way to breed yourself a bunch of home-grown Bt-resistant bugs.

A great resource for assessing the value of corn technology packages, called the “Handy Bt Trait Table” is published every year by Michigan State University and Texas A&M. It shows which traits are included in each technology package as well as what corn pests will/won’t be controlled.

As a final note, just because the less expensive corn seed yielded less doesn’t necessarily mean it was a bad deal. This seed may be an excellent fit for high-risk situations where yield potential is already reduced… no-tilling late planted corn into sod for example. It also may be possible that the yield drag could be made up for by increasing the plant population. While none of these questions were addressed by our study, it does appear that you get what you pay for when it comes to corn seed cost - at least, some of the time.

— Allen Wilder

wilder@whminer.com