Farm trials build success:Applied science and curiosity pay off for Watson Farms' IP business

摘要

Would you believe that corn ears from plants emerging on Day 1 were 13% fatter than the corn ears from Day 2-emerged corn? Third-generation cousins Jason and Adam Watson saw this played out for two years at Watson Farms, Villa Grove, III., on a 40-foot test section of one row. You could say the Watsons'corn stood the test of time.That expression played out profitably when Jason Watson flagged newly emerged seedlings each day at noon, according to day of emergence. The experiment's results changed how they equip their twoplanters and when they plant.After hand-harvesting the 40-foot-row experiment by day of emergence, they arranged the ears on the shop floor accordingly. In 2013, all Day 1-emerged corn ears had 18-row girths and were 34-37 kernels long. One ear was 20 rows around.