New soy survey highlights seed treatment adoption

ST. LOUIS — What is the value of seed treatments to U.S. soybean farmers, and how do they feel about alternatives to seed treatments?

A recent survey conducted by the American Soybean Association and the United Soybean Board sought to determine just that.

Seed treatments typically comprise one or more pesticides applied to seeds as a coating before planting — when plants are most susceptible and face the highest pressures — to limit early season risks to pest damage.

Jacquie Holland, an ASA economist who worked on the study, said it was not surprising the survey found seed treatments to be widely used across the country in soybean production.

“Seed treatments are a proactive means of ensuring plant health and yield vigor while minimizing environmental impacts. Alternative methods to seed treatments do exist, but few are widely accepted by farmers as feasible options,” she said.

Because seed treatments are broadly adopted by U.S. soybean producers, disruptions to this technology would likely alter on-farm operational strategies and product delivery methods.

Holland said this work finds that farmers would likely face lower yields and higher costs without seed treatments.

Josh Gackle, ASA president and a soy grower from North Dakota, agreed.

“On our farm and farms across the country, soybean growers rely on seed treatments as a cost-effective, reliable and safe method of providing early-season plant health and pest prevention. Farmers need these tools to help get our growing season off to a good start,” he said.

The survey was conducted in July and gathered 491 online responses from farmers growing at least 150 acres of soybeans during the 2023 season across the 17 largest soybean-producing states in the United States.

On average, 90% of soybean acres in the survey were planted with treated seeds. Only 3% of respondents had never planted any treated soybean seeds.

Because seed treatments are so widely used by farmers, the technology impacts farms across the United States.

Without seed treatments, farmers must resort to alternative practices to maintain yield vigor and reduce early season pest pressure within a reasonable cost.

These options include higher seeding population rates to account for seedling damage, later planting dates to avoid prime pest pressure, increased starter applications at planting and more foliar pesticide applications.

Increasing seeding population rates was the preferred alternative, followed by increasing foliar pesticide applications, with later planting the least preferred option. From both a yield and profitability perspective, seed treatments remained the clear preference.

The survey also looked at farmer safety when handling treated seeds. It indicated occupational exposure risk potential for growers, applicators and farm labor from these sources is limited.

Just over a third of seed treatment users rely on their dealers to treat their soybeans. Only 6% of respondents treat their own soybean seed, with the remainder relying on seed companies or retailers to treat their soybean seed ahead of planting.

Of the producers utilizing treated seed, nearly two out of five reported storing their treated seed in an enclosed storage building. It is worth noting that oftentimes these treated seeds are not stored for long after being delivered to the farm before farmers plant them.