Indiana Grower Satisfied With Liberty System
According to a national survey, 77% of US farmers reported that Liberty Link soybeans yield as good or better than their farm average. How did Indiana growers rate the Liberty system? Paul Saalweachter, who farms in Posey County, reported that in both 2012 and 2013 he had good yields with Liberty Link soybeans, “In 2012, we had the best bean crop we have ever had. In 2013, it was a much different year with lots of rain, but the soybean yields were still good.” He told HAT that the wet conditions in 2013 made weed control more difficult because the weeds kept growing all year long, but that the Liberty system was flexible enough to keep pace in both situations.
Saalweachter said weed control is one of the main reasons he started using the Liberty system, “We started getting weed resistance to Roundup, and using Liberty took a lot of the guesswork out of week control. You knew what was going to work.” He added that, with the Liberty system, you can come back a clean up your fields and catch weeds that have germinated, “You may have to hit them a second time, but at least you know it is going to kill the weeds.”
Over the next few weeks, Hoosier Ag Today will profile a number of growers around the state who have used the Liberty system and will report on their experiences and level of satisfaction with the Liberty system from Bayer Crop Science.