With every new planting season, there is an increase in the percentage of corn and soybean acreage that is planted with an insecticide and/or fungicide seed treatment.

These treatments, such as Cruiser Extreme® 250 or Cruiser Extreme 1250 for corn and a CruiserMaxx™ Beans brand product for soybeans from Syngenta, offer growers more effective protection against troublesome insects and disease, which if left untreated could potentially wreak havoc in the field. As every season progresses, the difference between the quality of a treated field versus that of an untreated field is remarkable – and the Corn and Soybean Belt is taking notice. Growers across the Midwest are experiencing improved stand establishment and plant vigor which can ultimately lead to higher yield and more profit at harvest.

In 2004 usage rates for seed-applied insecticides represented 25 percent of the corn market. Since then, they have more than doubled to approximately 60 percent in 2006 and many believe they have potential to reach 75 percent in 2007. In the soybean market, Cruiser®, the first commercially-available seed treatment insecticide, was applied on more than two million acres of soybeans in its inaugural year. In 2006, only one year later, projections of the number of acres treated have risen to over 4 million.

As the popularity of seed treatments continues to rise, and growers see they can count on a seed treatment to result in improved plant stand establishment, seeding rates in corn and soybean fields are being affected, but trending in opposite directions. In corn, planting populations are increasing steadily every year, while soybeans are seeing a decline in the number of beans that are sown at planting time.

In corn, it may be in the best interest of the grower to plant higher populations to achieve higher yields at harvest. The use of a seed treatment offers the assurance that every seed planted is given the best chance to come up out of the ground strong and healthy, potentially resulting in a larger crop and more profit at the end of the season.

In soybeans, seed treatment has driven planting populations in a different direction. It is no longer necessary to plant 200,000 seeds to have a harvest plant stand that is optimal. Using a seed treatment allows the optimization of seeding rates since a larger percentage of the seeds will germinate and emerge successfully, thus securing target final stand counts with less seed than has been necessary in the past.

Over the coming years, as seed treatment usage continues to expand, more growers will have the opportunity to experience how seed treatments can have a positive effect on planting populations, ultimately putting more money in their pocket at the end of the growing season.

©2006 Syngenta. Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. Greensboro, NC 27409.

Important: Always read and follow label directions before buying and using these products.

Cruiser Extreme®, CruiserMaxx™, Cruiser®, Dynasty®, Apron®, Maxim® and the Syngenta logo are trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. Cruiser Extreme 250 is a seed company-applied promotional combination of four active ingredients that deliver .25 mg ai/seed of Cruiser (thiamethoxam) plus three fungicides: Apron® XL, Maxim® XL and Dynasty®. Cruiser Extreme 1250 is a seed company-applied promotional combination of four active ingredients that deliver 1.25 mg ai/seed of Cruiser (thiamethoxam) plus three fungicides: Apron XL, Maxim XL and Dynasty. CruiserMaxx Beans is one or more separately registered products or combination of products containing the following: CruiserMaxx; CruiserMaxx and Apron XL; Cruiser, Maxim and Apron XL; or Cruiser and an ApronMaxx® brand fungicide.

Written by Gibbs & Soell on behalf of Syngenta Crop Protection.

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