Production Blog: Soybeans

DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- Beautiful weather wasn't the only highlight for soybean farmers during last week's Farm Progress Show. While exhibitors from across agriculture had their "latest and greatest" products and services on display, there seemed to be several soybean developments that warranted note. Here's a quick rundown on a few of them.

SOYBEAN HERBICIDE SIX-PACK TRAIT STACK

Syngenta and M.S. Technologies announced a soybean trait stack that will offer tolerance to six herbicide active ingredient -- more than any other soybean trait stack in the market, said Jared Benson, Syngenta's head of soybean portfolio strategy. The yet unnamed trait combination will include tolerance to glyphosate, glufosinate and 2,4-D choline from the Enlist E3 platform paired with the FG72 event that confers tolerance to three HPPD inhibitor chemistries -- mesotrione, bicyclopyrone and isoxaflutole.

Pending regulatory approvals, the trait stack is expected to be available in introductory volumes of commercial soybean varieties in 2028, with broad market availability anticipated in 2029.

"This is going to be the next step in a broader 15-year trait strategy," Benson told DTN. "We want to make sure that there's a lot of trait choice, and so this is that first step toward that. The next wave that we have planned early next decade is stacking a PPO trait on top of that. And even beyond that, we've got another proprietary gene that truly has some weed resistance-breaking potential that we think is going to be revolutionary."

Once approved, the new trait stack will be marketed by Syngenta under its Golden Harvest and NK Seed brands, as well as through the GreenLeaf Genetics licensing brand. M.S. Technologies intends to release soybean varieties through Stine Seed Co., Merschman Seeds and Latham Hi-Tech Seeds.

NEW TOOLS FOR PREEMERGENT BURNDOWNS

Bayer and BASF each plan to bring a new preemergent herbicide product to market in North America for combatting troublesome weeds. Bayer's product features a new mode of action for the U.S. market while BASF's product introduces a new active ingredient.

In June, EPA announced proposed registrations for two herbicides: diflufenican, the active ingredient in Bayer's Convintro, and trifludimoxazin, one of two active ingredients in BASF's Voraxor. Public comment periods for both herbicides closed in July.

"Convintro is a Group 12 herbicide and a molecule that's new to the North American market," said Frank Rittemann, Bayer soybean launch lead. "As a preemergent residual, it's really good at controlling Palmer amaranth and waterhemp and adds another tool to the toolbox."

Trifludimoxazin and saflufenacil, both Group 14 PPO inhibitors, are the active ingredients in BASF's Voraxor, which Josh Putman, BASF technical marketing manager, described as "Sharpen on steroids."

"It's dual mode of action," Putman said. "This new additional PPO has a completely different binding site, so if weeds are resistant to a PPO chemistry that we already have, this new active can control those weeds."

Both companies anticipate introducing their respective herbicides to the U.S. market in 2026, pending final regulatory approvals.

SOYBEANS THAT SIGNAL SICKNESS

While soybean plants don't audibly speak, one company has developed a system that allows them to communicate when they're sick -- long before a farmer might see an issue in the field.

California-based InnerPlant has created CropVoice, which is essentially an early warning system for detecting fungus in the field using genetically engineered plants in a sentinel plot network.

"Because plants can't get up and run away, they have very robust immune systems," said Sean Yokomizo, vice president of communications for InnerPlant. "When responding to a fungal stress, they'll activate genes in their immune system. Our genetically engineered plants have genes that make a fluorescent protein when that immune response is activated."

Once a fungal infection is detected, an alert goes out to farmers subscribed to the CropVoice network.

"You can take the guesswork out of your fungicide applications," Yokomizo said. "It might be weeks before you'd be able to see symptoms in the field, but as we know, by the time you're seeing the symptoms, it's too late. You've already lost yield."

Not only can fungicide applications be made sooner when needed, they can also be avoided when disease isn't present, saving on input costs.

This crop season, the CropVoice network spanned 50,000 acres in Illinois and Nebraska. Yokomizo said that in 2026, the network will span 500,000 acres across Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. Watch a video about how CropVoice works here: https://youtu.be/…

Jason Jenkins can be reached at jason.jenkins@dtn.com

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