b'PARTNER CONTENTHow I Put Corn Seed Treatments to the Ultimate TestBy: Davie Wilson, NA-ANZ Crop Protection Product Lead - Seed Growth, Bayer I ve always been fascinated by how things work. As a kid, I took apart radios, old telephones, almost any-thing I could get my hands onjust to see what was inside. That curiosity has stuck with me, but now, instead of radios, I test something even more important: the seed treatments that help farmers get the most out of their crops.As Bayers NA-ANZ Crop Protection Product Lead - Seed Growth, I lead the system development testing for our corn seed treatments. My job is to make sure that when a farmer plants our seed, theyre not just getting high-quality genetics and advanced biotech traits, but also a com-plete seed treatment system that has been rigorously tested to perform in real-world conditions.Raising the Bar When we talk about testing, there are two very different stages. The first is the research and development (R&D) phase: the required testing needed for regulatory approval by organizations like the EPA,matter the conditions. Our level of testingplants our seeds, they know exactly what USDA, or FDA. Every company in agricul- allows us to confirm that no matter whereto expect. Our goalin fact, our products ture goes through thisits the standarda farmer is growing corn, theyre gettingproven commitmentis stable, reliable step to prove a product works and is safeconsistent, proven performance. performance over time. to use. Take our Acceleron N314 nematicide But the second phase, product and sys- Data Is Everything seed treatment, for example. After years of tem development, is where my team andSome companies make production deci- testing, we can confidently say that it deliv-I dig far deeper than regulations require.sions based on data from six locations col- ers an average 4.8 bu/acre yield gain across This is where we figure out how our prod- lected in one year. In contrast, I overseemultiple seasons and locations. Thats not ucts interact with everything else a farmerabout 290 trial locations every year acrossa guessits backed by thousands of data uses. If we only tested one product on itsthe U.S. and Canada, collecting thousandspoints collected over many years, under all own, wed be missing the bigger picture.of data points over multiple years. kinds of growing conditions.Farmers dont just plant seed, they useThat matters because farming isntIn farming, just like in life, the best seed treatments, fertilizers, crop protec- the same year after year. Some years areresults come from preparation, precision, tion, and different management strate- colder, some are wetter, some have moreand a whole lot of real-world experience. gies depending on the season. We need todisease or pest pressure. We test acrossAnd thats exactly what we bring to the ensure that everything works together, nodiverse conditions so that when a farmerfield year after year.SEPTEMBER 2025SEEDWORLD.COM /29'