August 12, 2024 • 28 mins
In this episode, international guest Grant Groene, the former Global Seed Agronomy Lead for Pioneer US, joins Dr. Rowland Tsimba, National Research and Agronomy Manager, Wade and Matt to delve into global agronomy and future crop development.
Together, the team discuss the process of genetic development in maize, from the rigorous testing of hybrids to the impressive yield advancements achieved in different environments. Also, they discuss the vital role of international collaboration in agriculture, the transformative power of shared knowledge, and the challenges faced by farmers worldwide. Join us for an episode packed with global insights and cutting-edge practices.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
G'day and welcome to Feed for Thought, a regular
podcast from Pioneer coveringeverything from farm systems to
crops and products and much,much more.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Rightio, welcome back to Feed for Thought, your local
.
Well, we're going global todayactually podcast for all things
around feed and farm systems.
Today, wade as you've alreadyheard his little voice come
through there is joining me andwe've got two pretty special
guests.
One that you've heard before,dr Roland De Simba.
But, as I said, we're goingglobal.
(00:37):
We've brought in a colleague ora compatriot from the USA.
We've got Grant Groney, globalAgronomy Lead of Pioneer.
So welcome Grant and welcomeRoland to the Feed for Thought
podcast.
Thank you, thanks for having uson.
So, grant, you've been in NewZealand now for 10 days or so.
We've shown you a few thingsaround maize, obviously, and
(00:59):
cropping in New Zealand but youhad to have a bit of a break in
Queenstown at one point, and Iwas lucky enough to join you.
How was that experience?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, my experience so far in New Zealand has been
great.
Queenstown was a lot of fun.
Kind of reminded me of aColorado ski town or one of our
ski towns in the Rocky Mountainsin the western part of the US.
I was going to try to bungeejump but that didn't work out
because of some wind, some highwind, otherwise you would have
been all good with that.
I mean, I'm not going to say Iwas super disappointed, but you
(01:29):
know I didn't want to be the oneto back out first.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
There was a few nerves on both our parts.
We like terra firma and beingpretty close to it, so it's been
great to get around a number offarmers and parts of the
industry.
So thank you very much for that.
But before we crack in too much, it'd just be nice to know a
little bit around your role, howyou've actually come into the
(01:55):
role in the last few years and,roland, if you chip in around
the work that Grant's kind ofdone with yourself and our team
over the last year or couple ofyears as well, Sure.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
So, yeah, a little bit about my background.
I've been with Pioneer now foralmost 15 years, and when I was
a much younger man just startingout with the company, the lady
that was in this role priorcalled me up and this was in the
early days of Aquamax corn inthe US and we had some material
out in the field to look at.
And she called me and said, hey, I want to bring some
(02:24):
agronomists from Brazil up and Iwant you to show them around
through the Aquamax trials.
And I thought, okay, that'll bekind of fun.
So I got to spend about a weekor so with these agronomists
from Brazil and a few of theirbig customers and just kind of
seeing the interaction and therelationship she'd built with
them, I thought, man, what acool job.
Maybe, maybe, if that ever comesup one day, I could take a
crack at it.
And you know, fast forward.
(02:44):
About eight years later or so,she moved into a different role
and they were keen to backfillit and so I put my name in the
hat and was fortunate enough toget it.
And so I've been in this globalagronomy role now for about
five and a half years, based outof Des Moines, iowa, where the
Pioneer Global Seed headquartersis located.
Out of Des Moines, iowa, wherethe Pioneer Global Seed
(03:06):
headquarters is located, and myprimary role is to work with
colleagues like Roland and othercountry-level agronomy managers
outside of the US, where wefocus on a variety of
initiatives, but it's mostlyaround agronomy training and
figuring out how we can optimizeour agronomy teams to bring the
most value to our customers.
Nice.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And Roland.
So your interaction with Grant.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Yeah, it has been a pleasure working with Grant for
the last few years.
So every time, I'm sure forthose of you who have been to
the US it's quite incredible howmuch stuff they do in the US.
Pioneer is definitely a bigmachine.
They do pretty much everythingthat you cannot even imagine.
(03:46):
So I work with Grant mostly toget some information from an
agronomic sense, and we also areworking with a few other people
outside the UAS and Grant is agreat contact to get us through
to those people.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
So, grant, just with your role, so are you taking the
kind of the learnings and thelessons out of the US and
extending those worldwide, orhow do you sort of get them into
the local context, if you like?
Do you rely on the Rolands andkind of the local teams?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah, well, really, it's a two-way street, right.
I mean, I take the learningsfrom the US and share those with
Roland Roland's able to sharewith me what you guys are doing
in New Zealand and then I'm ableto take that back to the US,
but even other countries.
We share information back andforth between Europe and Brazil,
for example, or South Africaand Thailand, as an example
(04:41):
where it makes sense.
Yeah, we find that hybridschange, maturities change things
like that.
You know, some of theenvironments are a little
different from one another, butby and large, you know, growing
corn is very similar all acrossthe world.
Challenges may be different,but everybody faces them all the
same.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So, now that you've been around New Zealand for a
number of days and seeing a fewof our practices, has Roland
been lying to you about whatwe've been up to?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
no, I wouldn't.
I mean Roland's a verytrustworthy guy oh, hang on,
that's not what we'd say hekeeps apologising for some of
the weather, but he forgets it'sthe dead of winter in Iowa
right now.
So I'm glad to take this NewZealand spring weather anytime
it looks like you guys don'thave any confidence in me.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
It takes someone from America to actually appreciate
me for a change.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Now you know how we feel on our side as well.
Anyway, we'll move on to alittle bit.
I mean, we're starting to talka little bit around what Pioneer
does as a global operation.
What are some of the things?
In terms of the research sideof things, dave McDonald and
myself are actually lucky enoughto come and visit you middle of
this year or 2023.
It was quite eye-opening to seeeven just the extensive trials
(05:56):
that are happening and just thelevel of detail that you go into
over there.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah, and so you guys were able to take just really a
peek behind the curtain.
If we look globally across thePioneer Corteva AgriScience
umbrella, you know we've gotroughly about 150 R&D facilities
across the globe, with a largepart of those being in the corn
belt of the US.
You know we've been breedingcorn for over 100 years with
some of the most advancedbreeding technologies that our
(06:23):
corn breeders can use, whichallows us to build better
products faster and get them ina bag so a customer can have
access to them.
You know you mentioned thegreenhouses and you know in
Johnston or Des Moines area inIowa, there alone we've got over
20 hectares of greenhouse thatwe can conduct research in of
various types Corn.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
It's Roland shaking his head, going oh my God, what
I'd give to have that kind ofresource.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
We look at our pipeline over the next let's say
by about 2035, we're going tomake about $15 billion worth of
investment into our seed R&Dpart of the company, so pretty
excited about what there is tocome.
There's going to be some thingsin there as we continue to
evolve and how we grow crops andthe way we need to grow crops
(07:10):
and how we're going to meet thedemand.
You know, a growing populationwith less arable land.
You know, one of the things Isee in New Zealand, I see it in
America everywhere I go reallysome of our best farm grounds is
getting houses built right ontop of it.
Of our best farm grounds isgetting houses built right on
top of it.
So we got to figure out a wayto increase yields at a fast
rate to, you know, to meet thatglobal food demand, and that's
what we're trying to accomplishwith all that research so is
(07:32):
your time?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
you're kind of your research time horizon.
You know you sort of mentioned2035, like how is that?
Is that about that, the sort ofthe period of time that you're
looking out now you're you know,you're going, are're going, are
you going 10 years out, 15years out, 20 years out with
your research plans?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Well, we've always got products that are in the
queue to come online.
You know, as you think about itkind of like a phase approach,
so no, I mean, we're not.
It's not going to be 2035 untilwe release the next new thing,
right, it's kind of a revol, ifyou want to think of it like
that.
But over that next, you know,call that 10 years roughly you
know we're going to make a $15billion investment toward, you
(08:08):
know, new seed products as itcome to fruition over that time.
That's a few biggies, eh.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
It's quite big.
But, roland, what does thatmean to you and your team and us
at Genetic Technologies here inNew Zealand to have a local New
Zealand company, but to havethat horsepower, I suppose, or
to that global?
Speaker 4 (08:27):
level.
Yeah, the greatest thing, likeI say, that they start is
pioneer is a big machine and wehave access to all this work
that these guys do.
We're getting all informationand this is why I love just
dealing with with grant, becausewe have access to this
information and technology.
(08:47):
So every year we bring in heapsof material that we put into
our trialing program.
I think if we just look at theproduct portfolio, we're
bringing in, on average, about70 or so new hybrids every year
and we're putting them into ourimpact as well as product
(09:08):
advancement trialing system.
So we are really excited to beworking with these guys because
it just gives us the opportunityto test a range of really good
products and, as you guys may beaware, we have actually seen
our yields increasing over theyears and this is just because
(09:31):
of the new genetics that arecoming through the Coteva
pipeline.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Can we break that development, that genetic
development, down a little bit?
Because if I remember, thenumbers rightly Grant, you
mentioned previously thatsomething like 0.01% of the
hybrids get through the programand then linking that to what
Roland's talking about.
So we're bringing a number ofhybrids in, but there's already
been a heap of testing done inthe US.
(09:58):
So can you just elaborate alittle bit on the scale of that
testing and how many hybridsactually come through the
pipeline that then we're sort ofselecting from here in New?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Zealand.
Yeah, so you know, if we lookat the corn germplasm that's
available really just acrossagriculture in general, it's a
big, diverse population ofpotential combinations we can
use to make male and femaleinbreds, which you know turn
into hybrids.
And so you know, we look athundreds of thousands of
potential combinations.
You know we test somewhere, youknow, maybe around 10,000 or so
(10:31):
with each cycle.
That actually would be makingit to the field level and then
out of those, about 0.01% or soof all the possible combinations
we could have ever make it intoa bag and get sold to a
customer.
So if you think of breeding andresearch like a big funnel
right, we're able to stack a lotmore.
The top of the funnel is a lotwider and we're a lot more
(10:53):
selective now in terms of whatcomes out the bottom of that
funnel.
So we know that what we put onthe market is the best that we
can come up with.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
That's actually great to know, because once we get
these products into the country,even though we start off with
such a big number, only about 3%make it to become commercial Of
the product that we actuallyget Correct.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Correct.
So we're getting these hybridsthat are top of the field, I
suppose.
So the thing that always comesup around the chat, the chat
around the us, and we've gotthese harbors that are top
performers making their way allthe way through.
They must be yielding, wouldyou say they're outstanding in
their field sorry that was acorny joke what's this corn?
(11:38):
Chat, you know right?
Yeah, so that's a little point.
So where else in the world dothey actually call it corn?
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Well, in my travels around most people would call it
maize.
I think maybe the US, Canada,might be the places they call it
corn the most.
Everybody else is generallycalling it maize.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
So we're right and you're wrong.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Don't forget that our big brother, australia, called
it corn as well, yeah, but wealways say they're wrong too.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
If you go for their rugby performances they're not
good at much.
But let's dive into the yieldgame.
I suppose we often harp onabout how well Maze is doing in
New Zealand in terms of itsyield advancements year to year
Grant.
What's the yield ceiling orwhat have we hit over in the US
and what are the typical rangesthat we'll normally say and
(12:31):
probably start with maize grainor corn.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Sure, yeah.
So our average maize yield andwe may have to do some
adjustment here on the fly interms of putting it into tons
per hectare, but I'd say ournational average just across all
maize or corn hectares in theUS is probably somewhere in that
170, 175 bushel per acre range.
So for anybody listening, ifyou take that any bushel per
(12:55):
acre number times 0.06, it getsyou in the ballpark for metric
tons per hectare.
So, about 10, 11 ton.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, about 11 ton per hectare, 10.9, if my math is
working right.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
The calculator's working flat out.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Our overall yield range can vary.
A lot of that depends on theenvironment and whether you know
if we're in real hot, drought,stressed environments and we're
growing dry land corn or tryingto rely on some rainfall, you
know we can have that sub 100bushel range.
You know 80, 70, 80 bushelsomewhere in there.
You know if we're in reallygood irrigated maize, you know
we can be anywhere up to 350,350 bushels per acre on average.
(13:34):
You know the latest numbers Isaw from our National Corn
Grower Association contest ofthe highest yielders averaged
around that 375 bushel per acre.
So you know we know that we cangrow a really good maize.
And that tells me, if you lookacross all those entries and all
the states that are representedfrom those farmers, that we've
(13:54):
got better genetics and bettermanagement practices available
to us now than we have in thepast.
And you know we can achievethose yields across a wide range
of environments and maturities.
So it's not just isolated tocertain places and I think that
really goes really anywhere.
Right, we can.
If we do a good job of pickingour hybrids and do a good job of
managing it, we can raisereally good crops.
(14:16):
And if we can get a little helpfrom Mother Nature.
That works in our favor too.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Roland.
How does that compare to whatwe're doing down here in little
old NZ?
Roland?
Speaker 4 (14:25):
how does that compare to what we're doing down here
in little old NZ?
I'm actually excited to sharethis with you guys, because I
believe that our average yieldsare much higher than the US.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
I think on average.
For me it's great.
We are talking about 12 ton perhectare, which is one ton over
the US, and for silage we'reaging closer to 20, if not even
more.
And I'm just talking aboutaverage as well.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
And in terms of I was just going to say, most of our
maize is actually dry land.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Ah, yes, yeah.
And percentage in the US, orroughly what would be irrigated.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Yeah, so I don't know if I have a an exact percentage
there, but, um, you know, themajority of our corn in the us
has grown, um, in rain-fedenvironments.
A lot of our irrigated corn isin what we would call the the
high plains.
So you know, you're, you'relooking at states like western
north dakota and south dakota,the western part of nebraska,
western kansas, eastern colorado, uh, down into the te, down
(15:24):
into the Texas and Oklahomapanhandles.
That's where the biggestirrigated corn yields come from,
because we're feeding there offof the Ogallala Aquifer, which
is basically a big undergroundlake, if you want to think of it
like that, for lack of a betterterm that we're pulling that
irrigation water from, and it'llbe interesting here over the
next.
You know in a grander scale,the next, you know, 50 to 100
(15:47):
years on, what that looks like,because we do know that.
You know our groundwater sourcethere is slowly depleting and
so we're going to have to thinkabout either we're going to get
better, more drought tolerantgenetics, or we're going to
start managing our water alittle bit different, and then
some guys are already startingto do that with pretty good
results to some respects we'vegot we.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
we need to manage our water in new ze better as well.
We capture what less than 2%?
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I think We've got plenty of it, but it's always a
limited resource, isn't it?
So it's kind of like how do webecome more efficient?
Grow more from less water, lessnutrient?
How can we be smarter?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So you've given us the averages and you've been
real blasé, I suppose.
What's the top and what's thetop?
And I'll let Roland go firstwhat are we doing in terms of
our top yields and indeed acrosssome of the trials we've seen?
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Yeah, so I think we are looking at probably 23.5 at
the moment, based on our PioneerYield Cup competition this is a
maize grain.
Maize grain, that is, we don'thave a yield competition for
maize silage, but on average Iwould probably, if you want to
convert that to silage, maybemultiply that by 1.6.
(16:58):
That should put you in theballpark of what maize silage
yield should be.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, it would be an open can of worms if we got into
a silage competition.
I can tell you so yeah, that 23tonne kind of thing with a 109
CRM roughly.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
Yeah, that's a 109 CRM and that's a dryland as well
.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
In the North Island.
We always talk about the SouthIsland having some fantastic
yields, but where was that?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
I usually like to keep it quiet when it comes to
when we're getting it from, justto make sure that everyone is
happy.
We have actually been gettingthose yields largely from the
east coast, mostly Gisborne andHawke's Bay, but I think in the
last couple of years we havealso been getting over 20 tonne
(17:46):
from the wild cattle as well.
So, yeah, so we're getting someof these massive yields across
the country, and I must also addthat last year, from a yield
perspective, from our trials,the highest yielding silage
yielding crop was from SouthIreland.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Believe it or not, look at Dally start to puff his
chest out about now.
It's got nothing to do with me,I can assure you.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
But I do know it was 36 tons.
Thank you very much.
Grant Roland used the wordmassive.
What is David Hoover seems toalways come up and he's been
doing well in the yield.
So is it the Corn GrowersAssociation?
Yeah, the National.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Corn Grower Association Yield Contest.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
What's he been hitting?
Just to put us in our place, Isuppose.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Yeah, so the latest record was just under 625 bushel
per acre.
623 and change so that's aroundthat's kind of right at 39 ton
of grain acre.
623 and change so that's aroundthat's kind of right at 39 ton
of grain.
I did that with the 114 CRMhybrid and so you know again,
everybody has the same potentialinside of that bag, you know.
But as soon as we open it,things start kind of working
(18:55):
against us.
So it really comes down tomanagement and and then you know
the, the willingness toexperiment with new things.
I think that's you know, if I'ma corn grower and I'm trying to
think of ways to be progressive, I'm going to try and
experiment on a smaller scale atfirst and then see what I can
implement on an economic orcost-effective basis across the
(19:16):
wider range of the farm.
And that's what guys like Davidare doing to get those yields.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Yeah, so you've mentioned in there some of the
learnings, and I guess that'swhat guys like David are doing
to get those yields.
Yeah, so you've mentioned inthere some of the learnings and
I guess that's the advantage ofhaving the National Corn Growers
Association is that you get youknow, you get to hone in on
those and I think you have likean above 300 bushel kind of
focus, if you like.
You know what are the, what arethe, what are the learnings
that you're picking up out ofthose, what are the management
sort of factors that start toplay a?
Speaker 3 (19:42):
part.
Yeah, so at Pioneer we actuallykind of summarized or dove into
that information here overabout a five-year trend I think
it was about 2017 to 2021 waskind of the latest number that
we summarized there and reallywhat we found is that hybrid
selection and planting date haveabout the most influence on our
(20:04):
overall yield.
And then from there, you knowmanaging plant population and
doing some other things areright there as well.
You know, surprisingly,nitrogen management was more
toward the bottom of the list,although you know obviously good
fertility planning andprogramming are obviously very
important.
And then micronutrients youknow a lot of people have
questions about micronutrientsand what we should apply there
(20:26):
and how we should do that.
Those really kind of fell downtoward the bottom of the list in
terms of the most importantthings that we can do.
It really comes back to puttingthe right products on the right
acre, as we say in the US, orright product, right hectare.
And then you know managing ourplanning dates accordingly.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Well, it's pretty much the same as what we're
seeing here.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Oh, absolutely, and I'm actually glad that Grant
talked about micronutrients inparticular, because one of the
key things that I always want tofocus on when you're looking at
production on farm is makingsure that we are sticking to the
basics.
Rather, before we jump on todoing some of these tricky
(21:07):
practices or whether we want toadd some manganese or boron, I
think it's always best to makesure that we focus on the basics
first, and once you have nailedthose basics, you can then move
on to start looking at some ofthose little issues, such as
your micronutrients.
I'm not in any way suggestingthat we shouldn't be considering
(21:29):
micronutrients.
If there's a shortage ofmicronutrients in the soil, then
you need to address that, andthat's why it is always
important as part of your basicprogram.
You need to look at your soiltest, and the soil test should
be able to tell you whetherthere is any nutrient that needs
to be added to uh, to the uh,to the soil, to the crop very
(21:52):
much like uh I've seen both yourslides and, uh, it resembles a
barrel, and it's the lowest rungin the barrel that's um to be
costing us the most.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
So I don't know who copied each other off that one,
but I'll let you know I'll beusing it in the future too, and
put my name to it.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
I'll be kind to Grant because he's obviously a guest,
so I'll just copy it from him.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Smart move, mate, smart move.
So we've covered yields andkind of the key aspects around
it.
Is there anything else that Isuppose we're looking into the
future?
We've kind of covered thebaseline of yields.
Looking into the future, what'scoming out of Corteva or what's
something that excites youabout the future in maize or
corn?
Speaker 3 (22:35):
I think, when I look across our, you know, and
obviously it's a littledifferent in areas where we grow
traded corn versus where wedon't, but when I look at in
terms of what our trade pipelinelooks like there, but when I
look at corn development, cornbreeding, just in general, and
if we look at this on a biggerglobal scale all crops really
we've got better tools availableto us than we've ever had
(22:58):
before we've ever had before.
We're better able to assess thematerial available to make
hybrids and we're better able tomake predictions and picks on
which ones are going to be goodand give us those good agronomic
packages, you know, foreverything from stock strength
to yield, to drought tolerance,disease tolerance.
So I think, you know, over thenext five to 10 years we're
(23:19):
going to see the best cornproducts that we've ever seen.
You know, really, as a societyand you know, traveling around,
I'm really really inspired and,you know, feel good about
farming because all the farmersthat I interact with want to
know how they can be better.
Right, so they're not contentwith where they're at there.
You know, they kind of have acompetitive nature and the fact
(23:41):
that they want to be better.
They take pride in their cropsand they want to find ways to
continue to improve.
And to me, that's kind of whatI'm most looking forward to over
the next handful of years ishow much further can we take it?
Stay tuned, and I'll be rightthere in the front row, kind of
keeping an eye on that alongwith you guys.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Roland same sentiments, or in New Zealand.
We're facing differentchallenges around environment
and stuff, and it's a lot ofwork you've been doing.
What's something that's goingto drive you for the next few
years?
Speaker 4 (24:13):
Yeah, I think we pretty much have the same issues
or things that we should belooking forward to is for the US
.
But you're right, in terms ofthe environment, there has been
a few challenges in the past,but I'm glad to say that we are
now seeing some positives evencoming out of that.
(24:36):
But one thing that excites methe most about the industry
going forward is just if youlook at the farmers that we have
today, they're hungry forinformation.
Every time you attend aconference or a meeting, the
questions that you get today aretotally different to probably
(24:57):
in the old days.
People are actually wanting toknow what do I need to do to be
profitable?
What do I need to make surethat my practices or my
production practices areenvironmentally sound?
So I think we're now beginningto see some really positives
coming out of everything that ishappening, out of everything
that is happening and the factthat we have got access to the
(25:19):
Pioneer pipeline.
It makes me really excitedbecause we do have all the tools
from the product.
We've got the customers thatare really excited and they're
really hungry for all thatinformation.
So I think the future is reallypositive.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Jeez, take me there.
Yeah, he's sending a lot moreconfidence.
As Ian's getting closer to hisretirement, his confidence is
building.
Maybe there's some excitementaround that as well.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
I'm not excited that Ian is leaving, but maybe who
knows?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I've got the feeling that he's still floating around
and lurking Little do you know.
Listeners, little do you know.
It won't be the end of that man, but anyway, thank you very
much, guys for joining us.
I mean Wade a couple oftake-homes, I suppose, from
today's podcast.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yeah, a big take-home for me is and it perhaps hasn't
come out as much today, but oneof the things that you spoke
about, that you know the funneland the, the proportion of
hybrids that are making it downinto commercial.
You know, when you're talkingabout 0.01 percent, you know I
listen to that kind of numberand go.
You know that's phenomenal tohave that kind of horsepower
(26:30):
behind us.
If you like to get that kind ofagronomic package that's kind
of right for new zealand, thenwe rely on the roll-ins and the
berries to, you know, make surewe get the right ones for New
Zealand's environment, which youknow we've got a comprehensive
program here too.
But overall, if we combine thetwo, that to me gives me, you
know, a lot of confidence.
(26:50):
I like the fact that farmers andI agree that a lot of farmers
do like the benchmarking thing.
So you know making somecomparisons as to what's
happening over in the States theCorn Growers Association you
know what is the potential andhow do we go about kind of
learning some practices that arebehind that.
You know achieving thatpotential, those sorts of things
(27:12):
.
You know if we can extractlittle bits of gold out of
what's happening in the US andapply that in New Zealand, I
think we're in a good place overthe next 10 years and we'll
give a bit of gold back as well,Hopefully yeah absolutely Like
Roland said, our average is high.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
So, no, it's a great partnership and we're very lucky
to have that horsepower behinda New Zealand company here, a
little old NZ.
So once again, thank you, grant, for joining us and thanks for
your time with the team over thelast couple of weeks and the
industry.
There's been a number offarmers and merchants and
(27:53):
everyone within actuallylearning from you.
So that extension of knowledgehas been great, because I know
Wade and I are bloody useless atit when we've only got one,
roland.
No, it's been great having you,mate and Roland.
Thank you again for your input,very valuable member of our
team and keeping us in line withsome of these numbers too.
So thank you for your help andyour work and joining us today.
(28:15):
So make sure you tune in again.
Like subscribe, get amongst theFeed for Thought podcast.
We're going global now,obviously, with our guests, so
watch out, Tune in next time,thanks,
G'day and welcome to Feed for Thought, a regular
podcast from Pioneer coveringeverything from farm systems to
crops and products and much,much more.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Rightio, welcome back to Feed for Thought, your local
.
Well, we're going global todayactually podcast for all things
around feed and farm systems.
Today, wade as you've alreadyheard his little voice come
through there is joining me andwe've got two pretty special
guests.
One that you've heard before,dr Roland De Simba.
But, as I said, we're goingglobal.
(00:37):
We've brought in a colleague ora compatriot from the USA.
We've got Grant Groney, globalAgronomy Lead of Pioneer.
So welcome Grant and welcomeRoland to the Feed for Thought
podcast.
Thank you, thanks for having uson.
So, grant, you've been in NewZealand now for 10 days or so.
We've shown you a few thingsaround maize, obviously, and
(00:59):
cropping in New Zealand but youhad to have a bit of a break in
Queenstown at one point, and Iwas lucky enough to join you.
How was that experience?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, my experience so far in New Zealand has been
great.
Queenstown was a lot of fun.
Kind of reminded me of aColorado ski town or one of our
ski towns in the Rocky Mountainsin the western part of the US.
I was going to try to bungeejump but that didn't work out
because of some wind, some highwind, otherwise you would have
been all good with that.
I mean, I'm not going to say Iwas super disappointed, but you
(01:29):
know I didn't want to be the oneto back out first.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
There was a few nerves on both our parts.
We like terra firma and beingpretty close to it, so it's been
great to get around a number offarmers and parts of the
industry.
So thank you very much for that.
But before we crack in too much, it'd just be nice to know a
little bit around your role, howyou've actually come into the
(01:55):
role in the last few years and,roland, if you chip in around
the work that Grant's kind ofdone with yourself and our team
over the last year or couple ofyears as well, Sure.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
So, yeah, a little bit about my background.
I've been with Pioneer now foralmost 15 years, and when I was
a much younger man just startingout with the company, the lady
that was in this role priorcalled me up and this was in the
early days of Aquamax corn inthe US and we had some material
out in the field to look at.
And she called me and said, hey, I want to bring some
(02:24):
agronomists from Brazil up and Iwant you to show them around
through the Aquamax trials.
And I thought, okay, that'll bekind of fun.
So I got to spend about a weekor so with these agronomists
from Brazil and a few of theirbig customers and just kind of
seeing the interaction and therelationship she'd built with
them, I thought, man, what acool job.
Maybe, maybe, if that ever comesup one day, I could take a
crack at it.
And you know, fast forward.
(02:44):
About eight years later or so,she moved into a different role
and they were keen to backfillit and so I put my name in the
hat and was fortunate enough toget it.
And so I've been in this globalagronomy role now for about
five and a half years, based outof Des Moines, iowa, where the
Pioneer Global Seed headquartersis located.
Out of Des Moines, iowa, wherethe Pioneer Global Seed
(03:06):
headquarters is located, and myprimary role is to work with
colleagues like Roland and othercountry-level agronomy managers
outside of the US, where wefocus on a variety of
initiatives, but it's mostlyaround agronomy training and
figuring out how we can optimizeour agronomy teams to bring the
most value to our customers.
Nice.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And Roland.
So your interaction with Grant.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Yeah, it has been a pleasure working with Grant for
the last few years.
So every time, I'm sure forthose of you who have been to
the US it's quite incredible howmuch stuff they do in the US.
Pioneer is definitely a bigmachine.
They do pretty much everythingthat you cannot even imagine.
(03:46):
So I work with Grant mostly toget some information from an
agronomic sense, and we also areworking with a few other people
outside the UAS and Grant is agreat contact to get us through
to those people.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
So, grant, just with your role, so are you taking the
kind of the learnings and thelessons out of the US and
extending those worldwide, orhow do you sort of get them into
the local context, if you like?
Do you rely on the Rolands andkind of the local teams?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah, well, really, it's a two-way street, right.
I mean, I take the learningsfrom the US and share those with
Roland Roland's able to sharewith me what you guys are doing
in New Zealand and then I'm ableto take that back to the US,
but even other countries.
We share information back andforth between Europe and Brazil,
for example, or South Africaand Thailand, as an example
(04:41):
where it makes sense.
Yeah, we find that hybridschange, maturities change things
like that.
You know, some of theenvironments are a little
different from one another, butby and large, you know, growing
corn is very similar all acrossthe world.
Challenges may be different,but everybody faces them all the
same.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So, now that you've been around New Zealand for a
number of days and seeing a fewof our practices, has Roland
been lying to you about whatwe've been up to?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
no, I wouldn't.
I mean Roland's a verytrustworthy guy oh, hang on,
that's not what we'd say hekeeps apologising for some of
the weather, but he forgets it'sthe dead of winter in Iowa
right now.
So I'm glad to take this NewZealand spring weather anytime
it looks like you guys don'thave any confidence in me.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
It takes someone from America to actually appreciate
me for a change.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Now you know how we feel on our side as well.
Anyway, we'll move on to alittle bit.
I mean, we're starting to talka little bit around what Pioneer
does as a global operation.
What are some of the things?
In terms of the research sideof things, dave McDonald and
myself are actually lucky enoughto come and visit you middle of
this year or 2023.
It was quite eye-opening to seeeven just the extensive trials
(05:56):
that are happening and just thelevel of detail that you go into
over there.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah, and so you guys were able to take just really a
peek behind the curtain.
If we look globally across thePioneer Corteva AgriScience
umbrella, you know we've gotroughly about 150 R&D facilities
across the globe, with a largepart of those being in the corn
belt of the US.
You know we've been breedingcorn for over 100 years with
some of the most advancedbreeding technologies that our
(06:23):
corn breeders can use, whichallows us to build better
products faster and get them ina bag so a customer can have
access to them.
You know you mentioned thegreenhouses and you know in
Johnston or Des Moines area inIowa, there alone we've got over
20 hectares of greenhouse thatwe can conduct research in of
various types Corn.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
It's Roland shaking his head, going oh my God, what
I'd give to have that kind ofresource.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
We look at our pipeline over the next let's say
by about 2035, we're going tomake about $15 billion worth of
investment into our seed R&Dpart of the company, so pretty
excited about what there is tocome.
There's going to be some thingsin there as we continue to
evolve and how we grow crops andthe way we need to grow crops
(07:10):
and how we're going to meet thedemand.
You know, a growing populationwith less arable land.
You know, one of the things Isee in New Zealand, I see it in
America everywhere I go reallysome of our best farm grounds is
getting houses built right ontop of it.
Of our best farm grounds isgetting houses built right on
top of it.
So we got to figure out a wayto increase yields at a fast
rate to, you know, to meet thatglobal food demand, and that's
what we're trying to accomplishwith all that research so is
(07:32):
your time?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
you're kind of your research time horizon.
You know you sort of mentioned2035, like how is that?
Is that about that, the sort ofthe period of time that you're
looking out now you're you know,you're going, are're going, are
you going 10 years out, 15years out, 20 years out with
your research plans?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Well, we've always got products that are in the
queue to come online.
You know, as you think about itkind of like a phase approach,
so no, I mean, we're not.
It's not going to be 2035 untilwe release the next new thing,
right, it's kind of a revol, ifyou want to think of it like
that.
But over that next, you know,call that 10 years roughly you
know we're going to make a $15billion investment toward, you
(08:08):
know, new seed products as itcome to fruition over that time.
That's a few biggies, eh.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
It's quite big.
But, roland, what does thatmean to you and your team and us
at Genetic Technologies here inNew Zealand to have a local New
Zealand company, but to havethat horsepower, I suppose, or
to that global?
Speaker 4 (08:27):
level.
Yeah, the greatest thing, likeI say, that they start is
pioneer is a big machine and wehave access to all this work
that these guys do.
We're getting all informationand this is why I love just
dealing with with grant, becausewe have access to this
information and technology.
(08:47):
So every year we bring in heapsof material that we put into
our trialing program.
I think if we just look at theproduct portfolio, we're
bringing in, on average, about70 or so new hybrids every year
and we're putting them into ourimpact as well as product
(09:08):
advancement trialing system.
So we are really excited to beworking with these guys because
it just gives us the opportunityto test a range of really good
products and, as you guys may beaware, we have actually seen
our yields increasing over theyears and this is just because
(09:31):
of the new genetics that arecoming through the Coteva
pipeline.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Can we break that development, that genetic
development, down a little bit?
Because if I remember, thenumbers rightly Grant, you
mentioned previously thatsomething like 0.01% of the
hybrids get through the programand then linking that to what
Roland's talking about.
So we're bringing a number ofhybrids in, but there's already
been a heap of testing done inthe US.
(09:58):
So can you just elaborate alittle bit on the scale of that
testing and how many hybridsactually come through the
pipeline that then we're sort ofselecting from here in New?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Zealand.
Yeah, so you know, if we lookat the corn germplasm that's
available really just acrossagriculture in general, it's a
big, diverse population ofpotential combinations we can
use to make male and femaleinbreds, which you know turn
into hybrids.
And so you know, we look athundreds of thousands of
potential combinations.
You know we test somewhere, youknow, maybe around 10,000 or so
(10:31):
with each cycle.
That actually would be makingit to the field level and then
out of those, about 0.01% or soof all the possible combinations
we could have ever make it intoa bag and get sold to a
customer.
So if you think of breeding andresearch like a big funnel
right, we're able to stack a lotmore.
The top of the funnel is a lotwider and we're a lot more
(10:53):
selective now in terms of whatcomes out the bottom of that
funnel.
So we know that what we put onthe market is the best that we
can come up with.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
That's actually great to know, because once we get
these products into the country,even though we start off with
such a big number, only about 3%make it to become commercial Of
the product that we actuallyget Correct.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Correct.
So we're getting these hybridsthat are top of the field, I
suppose.
So the thing that always comesup around the chat, the chat
around the us, and we've gotthese harbors that are top
performers making their way allthe way through.
They must be yielding, wouldyou say they're outstanding in
their field sorry that was acorny joke what's this corn?
(11:38):
Chat, you know right?
Yeah, so that's a little point.
So where else in the world dothey actually call it corn?
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Well, in my travels around most people would call it
maize.
I think maybe the US, Canada,might be the places they call it
corn the most.
Everybody else is generallycalling it maize.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
So we're right and you're wrong.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Don't forget that our big brother, australia, called
it corn as well, yeah, but wealways say they're wrong too.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
If you go for their rugby performances they're not
good at much.
But let's dive into the yieldgame.
I suppose we often harp onabout how well Maze is doing in
New Zealand in terms of itsyield advancements year to year
Grant.
What's the yield ceiling orwhat have we hit over in the US
and what are the typical rangesthat we'll normally say and
(12:31):
probably start with maize grainor corn.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Sure, yeah.
So our average maize yield andwe may have to do some
adjustment here on the fly interms of putting it into tons
per hectare, but I'd say ournational average just across all
maize or corn hectares in theUS is probably somewhere in that
170, 175 bushel per acre range.
So for anybody listening, ifyou take that any bushel per
(12:55):
acre number times 0.06, it getsyou in the ballpark for metric
tons per hectare.
So, about 10, 11 ton.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, about 11 ton per hectare, 10.9, if my math is
working right.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
The calculator's working flat out.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Our overall yield range can vary.
A lot of that depends on theenvironment and whether you know
if we're in real hot, drought,stressed environments and we're
growing dry land corn or tryingto rely on some rainfall, you
know we can have that sub 100bushel range.
You know 80, 70, 80 bushelsomewhere in there.
You know if we're in reallygood irrigated maize, you know
we can be anywhere up to 350,350 bushels per acre on average.
(13:34):
You know the latest numbers Isaw from our National Corn
Grower Association contest ofthe highest yielders averaged
around that 375 bushel per acre.
So you know we know that we cangrow a really good maize.
And that tells me, if you lookacross all those entries and all
the states that are representedfrom those farmers, that we've
(13:54):
got better genetics and bettermanagement practices available
to us now than we have in thepast.
And you know we can achievethose yields across a wide range
of environments and maturities.
So it's not just isolated tocertain places and I think that
really goes really anywhere.
Right, we can.
If we do a good job of pickingour hybrids and do a good job of
managing it, we can raisereally good crops.
(14:16):
And if we can get a little helpfrom Mother Nature.
That works in our favor too.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Roland.
How does that compare to whatwe're doing down here in little
old NZ?
Roland?
Speaker 4 (14:25):
how does that compare to what we're doing down here
in little old NZ?
I'm actually excited to sharethis with you guys, because I
believe that our average yieldsare much higher than the US.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
I think on average.
For me it's great.
We are talking about 12 ton perhectare, which is one ton over
the US, and for silage we'reaging closer to 20, if not even
more.
And I'm just talking aboutaverage as well.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
And in terms of I was just going to say, most of our
maize is actually dry land.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Ah, yes, yeah.
And percentage in the US, orroughly what would be irrigated.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Yeah, so I don't know if I have a an exact percentage
there, but, um, you know, themajority of our corn in the us
has grown, um, in rain-fedenvironments.
A lot of our irrigated corn isin what we would call the the
high plains.
So you know, you're, you'relooking at states like western
north dakota and south dakota,the western part of nebraska,
western kansas, eastern colorado, uh, down into the te, down
(15:24):
into the Texas and Oklahomapanhandles.
That's where the biggestirrigated corn yields come from,
because we're feeding there offof the Ogallala Aquifer, which
is basically a big undergroundlake, if you want to think of it
like that, for lack of a betterterm that we're pulling that
irrigation water from, and it'llbe interesting here over the
next.
You know in a grander scale,the next, you know, 50 to 100
(15:47):
years on, what that looks like,because we do know that.
You know our groundwater sourcethere is slowly depleting and
so we're going to have to thinkabout either we're going to get
better, more drought tolerantgenetics, or we're going to
start managing our water alittle bit different, and then
some guys are already startingto do that with pretty good
results to some respects we'vegot we.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
we need to manage our water in new ze better as well.
We capture what less than 2%?
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I think We've got plenty of it, but it's always a
limited resource, isn't it?
So it's kind of like how do webecome more efficient?
Grow more from less water, lessnutrient?
How can we be smarter?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So you've given us the averages and you've been
real blasé, I suppose.
What's the top and what's thetop?
And I'll let Roland go firstwhat are we doing in terms of
our top yields and indeed acrosssome of the trials we've seen?
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Yeah, so I think we are looking at probably 23.5 at
the moment, based on our PioneerYield Cup competition this is a
maize grain.
Maize grain, that is, we don'thave a yield competition for
maize silage, but on average Iwould probably, if you want to
convert that to silage, maybemultiply that by 1.6.
(16:58):
That should put you in theballpark of what maize silage
yield should be.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, it would be an open can of worms if we got into
a silage competition.
I can tell you so yeah, that 23tonne kind of thing with a 109
CRM roughly.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
Yeah, that's a 109 CRM and that's a dryland as well
.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
In the North Island.
We always talk about the SouthIsland having some fantastic
yields, but where was that?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
I usually like to keep it quiet when it comes to
when we're getting it from, justto make sure that everyone is
happy.
We have actually been gettingthose yields largely from the
east coast, mostly Gisborne andHawke's Bay, but I think in the
last couple of years we havealso been getting over 20 tonne
(17:46):
from the wild cattle as well.
So, yeah, so we're getting someof these massive yields across
the country, and I must also addthat last year, from a yield
perspective, from our trials,the highest yielding silage
yielding crop was from SouthIreland.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Believe it or not, look at Dally start to puff his
chest out about now.
It's got nothing to do with me,I can assure you.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
But I do know it was 36 tons.
Thank you very much.
Grant Roland used the wordmassive.
What is David Hoover seems toalways come up and he's been
doing well in the yield.
So is it the Corn GrowersAssociation?
Yeah, the National.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Corn Grower Association Yield Contest.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
What's he been hitting?
Just to put us in our place, Isuppose.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Yeah, so the latest record was just under 625 bushel
per acre.
623 and change so that's aroundthat's kind of right at 39 ton
of grain acre.
623 and change so that's aroundthat's kind of right at 39 ton
of grain.
I did that with the 114 CRMhybrid and so you know again,
everybody has the same potentialinside of that bag, you know.
But as soon as we open it,things start kind of working
(18:55):
against us.
So it really comes down tomanagement and and then you know
the, the willingness toexperiment with new things.
I think that's you know, if I'ma corn grower and I'm trying to
think of ways to be progressive, I'm going to try and
experiment on a smaller scale atfirst and then see what I can
implement on an economic orcost-effective basis across the
(19:16):
wider range of the farm.
And that's what guys like Davidare doing to get those yields.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Yeah, so you've mentioned in there some of the
learnings, and I guess that'swhat guys like David are doing
to get those yields.
Yeah, so you've mentioned inthere some of the learnings and
I guess that's the advantage ofhaving the National Corn Growers
Association is that you get youknow, you get to hone in on
those and I think you have likean above 300 bushel kind of
focus, if you like.
You know what are the, what arethe, what are the learnings
that you're picking up out ofthose, what are the management
sort of factors that start toplay a?
Speaker 3 (19:42):
part.
Yeah, so at Pioneer we actuallykind of summarized or dove into
that information here overabout a five-year trend I think
it was about 2017 to 2021 waskind of the latest number that
we summarized there and reallywhat we found is that hybrid
selection and planting date haveabout the most influence on our
(20:04):
overall yield.
And then from there, you knowmanaging plant population and
doing some other things areright there as well.
You know, surprisingly,nitrogen management was more
toward the bottom of the list,although you know obviously good
fertility planning andprogramming are obviously very
important.
And then micronutrients youknow a lot of people have
questions about micronutrientsand what we should apply there
(20:26):
and how we should do that.
Those really kind of fell downtoward the bottom of the list in
terms of the most importantthings that we can do.
It really comes back to puttingthe right products on the right
acre, as we say in the US, orright product, right hectare.
And then you know managing ourplanning dates accordingly.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Well, it's pretty much the same as what we're
seeing here.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Oh, absolutely, and I'm actually glad that Grant
talked about micronutrients inparticular, because one of the
key things that I always want tofocus on when you're looking at
production on farm is makingsure that we are sticking to the
basics.
Rather, before we jump on todoing some of these tricky
(21:07):
practices or whether we want toadd some manganese or boron, I
think it's always best to makesure that we focus on the basics
first, and once you have nailedthose basics, you can then move
on to start looking at some ofthose little issues, such as
your micronutrients.
I'm not in any way suggestingthat we shouldn't be considering
(21:29):
micronutrients.
If there's a shortage ofmicronutrients in the soil, then
you need to address that, andthat's why it is always
important as part of your basicprogram.
You need to look at your soiltest, and the soil test should
be able to tell you whetherthere is any nutrient that needs
to be added to uh, to the uh,to the soil, to the crop very
(21:52):
much like uh I've seen both yourslides and, uh, it resembles a
barrel, and it's the lowest rungin the barrel that's um to be
costing us the most.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
So I don't know who copied each other off that one,
but I'll let you know I'll beusing it in the future too, and
put my name to it.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
I'll be kind to Grant because he's obviously a guest,
so I'll just copy it from him.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Smart move, mate, smart move.
So we've covered yields andkind of the key aspects around
it.
Is there anything else that Isuppose we're looking into the
future?
We've kind of covered thebaseline of yields.
Looking into the future, what'scoming out of Corteva or what's
something that excites youabout the future in maize or
corn?
Speaker 3 (22:35):
I think, when I look across our, you know, and
obviously it's a littledifferent in areas where we grow
traded corn versus where wedon't, but when I look at in
terms of what our trade pipelinelooks like there, but when I
look at corn development, cornbreeding, just in general, and
if we look at this on a biggerglobal scale all crops really
we've got better tools availableto us than we've ever had
(22:58):
before we've ever had before.
We're better able to assess thematerial available to make
hybrids and we're better able tomake predictions and picks on
which ones are going to be goodand give us those good agronomic
packages, you know, foreverything from stock strength
to yield, to drought tolerance,disease tolerance.
So I think, you know, over thenext five to 10 years we're
(23:19):
going to see the best cornproducts that we've ever seen.
You know, really, as a societyand you know, traveling around,
I'm really really inspired and,you know, feel good about
farming because all the farmersthat I interact with want to
know how they can be better.
Right, so they're not contentwith where they're at there.
You know, they kind of have acompetitive nature and the fact
(23:41):
that they want to be better.
They take pride in their cropsand they want to find ways to
continue to improve.
And to me, that's kind of whatI'm most looking forward to over
the next handful of years ishow much further can we take it?
Stay tuned, and I'll be rightthere in the front row, kind of
keeping an eye on that alongwith you guys.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Roland same sentiments, or in New Zealand.
We're facing differentchallenges around environment
and stuff, and it's a lot ofwork you've been doing.
What's something that's goingto drive you for the next few
years?
Speaker 4 (24:13):
Yeah, I think we pretty much have the same issues
or things that we should belooking forward to is for the US
.
But you're right, in terms ofthe environment, there has been
a few challenges in the past,but I'm glad to say that we are
now seeing some positives evencoming out of that.
(24:36):
But one thing that excites methe most about the industry
going forward is just if youlook at the farmers that we have
today, they're hungry forinformation.
Every time you attend aconference or a meeting, the
questions that you get today aretotally different to probably
(24:57):
in the old days.
People are actually wanting toknow what do I need to do to be
profitable?
What do I need to make surethat my practices or my
production practices areenvironmentally sound?
So I think we're now beginningto see some really positives
coming out of everything that ishappening, out of everything
that is happening and the factthat we have got access to the
(25:19):
Pioneer pipeline.
It makes me really excitedbecause we do have all the tools
from the product.
We've got the customers thatare really excited and they're
really hungry for all thatinformation.
So I think the future is reallypositive.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Jeez, take me there.
Yeah, he's sending a lot moreconfidence.
As Ian's getting closer to hisretirement, his confidence is
building.
Maybe there's some excitementaround that as well.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
I'm not excited that Ian is leaving, but maybe who
knows?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I've got the feeling that he's still floating around
and lurking Little do you know.
Listeners, little do you know.
It won't be the end of that man, but anyway, thank you very
much, guys for joining us.
I mean Wade a couple oftake-homes, I suppose, from
today's podcast.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yeah, a big take-home for me is and it perhaps hasn't
come out as much today, but oneof the things that you spoke
about, that you know the funneland the, the proportion of
hybrids that are making it downinto commercial.
You know, when you're talkingabout 0.01 percent, you know I
listen to that kind of numberand go.
You know that's phenomenal tohave that kind of horsepower
(26:30):
behind us.
If you like to get that kind ofagronomic package that's kind
of right for new zealand, thenwe rely on the roll-ins and the
berries to, you know, make surewe get the right ones for New
Zealand's environment, which youknow we've got a comprehensive
program here too.
But overall, if we combine thetwo, that to me gives me, you
know, a lot of confidence.
(26:50):
I like the fact that farmers andI agree that a lot of farmers
do like the benchmarking thing.
So you know making somecomparisons as to what's
happening over in the States theCorn Growers Association you
know what is the potential andhow do we go about kind of
learning some practices that arebehind that.
You know achieving thatpotential, those sorts of things
(27:12):
.
You know if we can extractlittle bits of gold out of
what's happening in the US andapply that in New Zealand, I
think we're in a good place overthe next 10 years and we'll
give a bit of gold back as well,Hopefully yeah absolutely Like
Roland said, our average is high.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
So, no, it's a great partnership and we're very lucky
to have that horsepower behinda New Zealand company here, a
little old NZ.
So once again, thank you, grant, for joining us and thanks for
your time with the team over thelast couple of weeks and the
industry.
There's been a number offarmers and merchants and
(27:53):
everyone within actuallylearning from you.
So that extension of knowledgehas been great, because I know
Wade and I are bloody useless atit when we've only got one,
roland.
No, it's been great having you,mate and Roland.
Thank you again for your input,very valuable member of our
team and keeping us in line withsome of these numbers too.
So thank you for your help andyour work and joining us today.
(28:15):
So make sure you tune in again.
Like subscribe, get amongst theFeed for Thought podcast.
We're going global now,obviously, with our guests, so
watch out, Tune in next time,thanks,
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