Understanding the Preceon™ Smart Corn System

August 8, 2023

Bayer Technical Agronomist Andrew Penney took the time to sit with us for an Ask a TA session. Listen to why he’s excited about the Preceon™ Smart Corn System and short stature corn hybrids and why he thinks it’ll be a game changer for farmers looking for more ways to maximize their yield potential.


How does the Preceon Smart Corn System help protect against wind events?

Based on Bayer internal trials 2018-2020 across a range of environments (535 locations, 16 states), including numerous testing locations in the path of the 2020 derecho event across Iowa (results submitted for journal publication).

You know within the Smart Corn System, it drastically reduces the risk for growers from wind events. So, whether you’re in one of those wind tunnels or not across the Corn Belt, wind events happen; they occur. And just having that in the back of your mind that, “Hey, we have this product out there that’s gonna drastically reduce our risk if we do encounter a windstorm.” I think it is one more thing that helps growers sleep better at night, especially through those months where we commonly see wind events.



Why is season-long access so important?

You know, traditionally, anytime we wanna make late-season applications in corn — whether it’s a fungicide, insecticide, late-season nitrogen application — it was kind of kept for those with a Hagie. And now, with short corn, we’re able to use any kind of sprayers that can get through shorter stature corn.

You know, when you start thinking about what we can do as far as in-season fertilizer applications and any kind of pesticide or fungicide that we may potentially want to use, it really opens a window with short corn. We’re giving any dealers or growers season-long access to whatever they want to do.



What role will the Preceon Smart Corn System play in driving yield potential?

It’s all about protecting yield from the moment we plant that seed to the moment we harvest. And anything and everything that we do is about managing and protecting yield. And so, having all of this additional access, the potential for increasing planting populations, it gives us… it’s not a guaranteed increase in yield, but it definitely gives us the opportunity to capture and protect the yield that is out there from the moment we plant that seed to the moment we harvest.

Myself especially, when we’re talking to growers about the ability to increase planting populations without decreasing stalk quality or having to worry about lodging later in the season, and the potential for increased yields because of the higher population — that gets growers excited.



How will the Climate Fieldview™ platform help farmers?

FieldView™ users own their farm data. Agronomic partners will not see your data unless you choose to share or link your accounts with them.

You know, the whole Climate FieldView™ aspect and the digital platform allows us to not only easily capture that data but it gives us the opportunity to analyze that data, right? We can start pulling and looking at things that we never have in the past and build on that, right?

The ability for us and our growers to do the research and compare and analyze the results on their own farm is huge. You know, that gives everyone the access to become a scientist and a researcher, right? What worked best on our farm? How did this management practice compare to this one? And so, it just really opens the door for anybody and everybody to analyze what they’re doing and get better the next year.



We thank Andrew for his time in discussing the Preceon Smart Corn System and its exciting future for corn farmers. If you’d like to learn more about this innovative new approach to corn production, talk to your dealer, dig into the science at the link below or send us any questions you may have.