While seed companies would lead you to believe growers will be planting dicamba-tolerant soybeans this spring to improve yields or do a better job of controlling weeds, results from a No-Till Farmer survey indicate many will only be doing so to protect their bean crop against potential herbicide drift concerns from neighboring soybean fields.

Results from this mid-February electronic survey that drew responses from 472 no-tillers show 43% of these growers will no-till dicamba-tolerant soybeans this spring. Another 51% will not be planting dicamba-tolerant beans, while 6% had not finalized their planting intentions.

Among growers planting dicamba-tolerant beans, 27% expect to spray dicamba herbicide on all of their soybean acres, while 35% expect to spray dicamba on only a portion of their bean acres. Some 38% indicated it’s still an option, but actual use will depend on what weed pressures develop.

Among those growers who will no-till dicamba-tolerant beans, they expect to plant half of their bean acres to these new genetics. Only 3% of these growers indicated they will plant all of this year’s bean acres to dicamba-tolerant varieties.

Drift Concerns Real

These no-tillers were also asked to list the major reason they’ll plant dicamba-tolerant soybeans. Some 47% indicated it’s to tackle changing weed pressures. Another 29% indicated it was to capture an anticipated yield potential due to improved genetics.

However, an amazing 24% indicated the major reason they will plant dicamba-tolerant bean varieties is to protect their soybeans fields from potential drift concerns that might come from nearby…