This past year, Bayer had 85,000 acres of short-stature corn in production. The company’s innovation and launch lead, Lindsay Battle, says that it will be expanded to 200,000 acres in 2026. Standability is seen as a major benefit. “With the shorter stature, and it actually has a little bit of a wider stalk, it’s really helping the plant stay upright,” said Battle. “You can also plant at higher densities and still have that standability, which is huge when you really think about yield potential.” Another benefit of short-stature corn is the flexibility it provides when managing the crop. “This year, when you have a terrible disease pressure year, as we saw with southern rust and some other things coming up, you can get in the field later.” Battle said the initial work on short-stature corn is being concentrated on the core Cornbelt with maturities of 102 to 118 days.
