Stine^® Harvest Roundup: Part 2

In last week’s edition of Stine® Weekly, we covered harvest updates from areas like Michigan, Indiana, Kansas, the East Coast and the South. This week, Stine agronomists share harvest progress from the northern and eastern Corn Belt. Here’s what the team is reporting in their regions for overall crop performance and in-season takeaways.

Tony Lenz, technical agronomist

We had an extreme growing season in the four states I cover — Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and southern Minnesota — and where my corn and soybean Product Development Plots (PDP) are located. Most areas this summer received their yearly averages for rainfall, but it all came in May and June. An example is northwest Iowa, where I live. In late June, we received around 15 inches in three days, and from August to mid-October, we have gotten only a little over two inches in two and a half months. This leads to some very wide swings in my area where we saw soybean plots range from the mid-30s (bu/acre) to upper 90s, depending on if you caught more late-fall rains or have heavier soils to hold early-summer moisture. Soybean aphids also played a part in late July and early August, when some growers decided to spray or not based on the current grain prices. Stine varieties that have shown up consistently include older lines like 15EE32, 17EE32, 21EE62 and 29EF02. Some new products that have performed well in the PDPs are 13EH62, 24EH32, 28EH32, 30EH23 and 30EH32.

We also had Stine 25EG23 do very well, especially when we added an aggressive seed treatment with biologicals at planting in our seed treatment trials, which showed a nice bump in yields.

In corn, we again had a wide range of yields, especially in areas that experienced early-spring nitrogen loss due to excessive rains and where an in-season application was not added. Also, rootworm affected corn even in corn-on-soybean acres in some parts of Iowa and southwest Minnesota. I’ve been impressed with current lines like Stine 9320-20, 9445-20, 9754-20, 9755-20 and 9817-30, to name a few that have already been harvested in smaller samples. We have some really good looking EXP hybrids we are testing and are seeing some really high yields and excellent test weight and grain quality in these new products.

Kayla Noble, technical agronomist

Across much of Iowa and the southern half of Minnesota, warm, dry weather moved in toward the end of August and has stuck around. The above-normal temperatures, sunshine and little rainfall significantly accelerated crop senescence, so we started harvest a little earlier than anticipated. It looks as though this week will bring much cooler temperatures, and many are likely to see their first freeze.

Northeast Iowa has seen some impressive yields, as the abundant spring rains brought the area out of prolonged drought, and adequate rains continued to follow until late August when things dried up. Unfortunately for some, the wet spring led to root and stem diseases, like Phytophthora, Fusarium, SDS, brown stem rot, white mold, etc., and we are seeing some hits on yield. On the other hand, healthy soybean fields in the area have had some tremendous yields, upwards of 100 bu/acre out of some older lines like Stine 17EE32 and 19EC12. Out of the soybean PDPs that have been harvested in my area thus far, Stine 13EH62, 24EH32 and 25EGs were top yielding in southwest Minnesota. In southeast Iowa, 36EH32 and 36EH23 were first and second in the plot, with 30EH32 coming in a very close third.

Many growers have wrapped up soybean harvest and have switched over to corn. So far, I have harvested four early-mid maturity (94–102 relative maturity) corn PDPs in my region. Stine 9445-20 is winning plots in medium-textured soil environments both east and west. Some of our experimental hybrids, EXP24 101-20 and EXP24 102-22, have been top yielding on heavier soils, with 101-20 really standing out as a defensive hybrid with the early-season saturated soils, lack of nitrogen and the dry late season we saw this year.

Faith Hedrick, field agronomist

Harvest is finally in full swing in my areas of northern Illinois and Wisconsin. So far, I have most of my soybean PDPs out of the ground, with one corn PDP out as well. On the soybean side, lines that have topped my plots include Stine 13EH62 yielding 61.8 bu/acre in Wautoma, Wisconsin; 20EG02 yielding at 73.7 bu/acre in Monroe, Wisconsin; 22EG02 yielding 66.1 bu/acre in Plum City, Wisconsin; and 30EH23 yielding 84.8 bu/acre in North Utica, Illinois. Overall, yields have been looking good across the board given the early wet conditions and late dry conditions with some varieties coming out of the backfield to surprise us. Other “honorable mention” products that were close behind, and some of my season-long favorites, include Stine 11EH06 at 60.9 bu/acre, 13EG23 at 61.6 bu/acre, 28EH32 at 81.5 bu/acre and 30EH32 at 83.9 bu/acre. We continue to see from the start of the season through the finish that the EG and EH material is really proving how well our new products are performing and outcompeting others.

As for corn, I’m just starting to get moving on the PDPs, but from the one I have harvested, we’ve seen good results. This particular PDP was an early set in Ellsworth, Wisconsin. The plot was stacked with some impressive products that are hard not to boast about, but the top of that plot was one of my favorites: Stine 9214-20 at 174.9 bu/acre, with 9213-G close behind at 172.8 bu/acre and 9320-20 at 161.7 bu/acre. Overall, all the new products in our lineup for the 2025 growing season, such as those previously listed and 9104-20, 9105-10 and 9215-20, were all among the top lines in the Ellsworth PDP. It’s exciting to see how our lineup is not only growing but also performing well.

Ben Shepherd, field agronomist

Harvest has been going very fast in the regions I cover. Soybeans are about 95% harvested, with the rest being fields that were planted very late. Stine 08EG62 and 10EG20 have been very impressive for performance this fall.

On the corn side, most farmers have started harvesting with reports of very dry corn for this early in October. Usually, corn being harvested at this time of year is around 18%­­–24% moisture, and I am getting reports in the 14%–16% range. Overall, yields have been good so far. A few hybrids that have stood out in the PDPs I have taken out so far are Stine 9104-20 and 9215-20. Stine 9104-20 was an 80-day line in the plot, with numerous hybrids at 90-day maturity, so I did not think it would win any plots. To my surprise, in one plot it yielded 257 bu/acre and won the plot by 35 bushels.