The Xitavo Breeding program has five regional hubs across the Midwest, including a station at Sabin, Minnesota. Xitavo soybean breeder John Davies sees value in having that development and testing done at the local level. “I think that’s very important; when a farmer looks at data, he wants to look at data from his area so it might translate to what is going on his farm rather than just getting a generalized multi-regional data set.” Yield remains the priority, but work is also being done locally to develop Soybean Cyst Nematode-resistant varieties. “The farmers are losing yield in the field and they don’t even know it,” said Davies. “Cyst Nematode is everywhere, sucking yield. The varieties that we’re coming through now, the results today look very promising.” Watch the YouTube interview.
