Both this year and next U.S. corn growers will be participating in on-farm testing of a new corn hybrid that will be another major player fighting corn rootworm. Bayer has received EPA approval to launch VT4PRO, although their expected commercial launch is 2024.
“Really what VT4PRO is, it’s our latest innovation corn technology,” says Sean Cohen, U.S. Corn Launch and Tailored Innovation Lead for Bayer. “It’s going to offer the widest spectrum of control for a Bayer product, both above and below ground. It has the innovative RANi Technology also to control corn rootworm. It’s going to unlock grower choice, giving them another choice for corn rootworm in low to moderate pressure areas, and it helps highlight our continued commitment to innovation in bringing solutions to farmers to face what they face on their farm.”
Cohen says this will be a nice complementary solution if your geography includes a wider range of corn rootworm pressure.
“It’s going to be a complimentary product with SmartStax PRO in medium to high pressure, and it represents our commitment to R&D to help growers solve the tough challenges they have on their farm.”
The R&D pipeline pulled VT4PRO from another country.
“How it came about is we really heard a need from growers that said I want a product that has really great above ground and below ground control,” Cohen explained. “So, in this case we were able to look at our global pipeline and we found a product in South America that we were using that would really meet those needs. So, that’s kind of helped us speed up the process.”
Cohen says the tests this year and next are for efficacy, yield, and for germ, to ultimately provide the best guidance for on-farm use. Learn more on Bayer’s new product offering the widest spectrum of insect defense at https://www.bayer.com/en/vt4pro.