“The more data that is available to make a purchase decision helps you make the right choice and limits negative experiences. Our customers put their trust in us when they purchase a bag of seed that it will be successful and make a profit on each acre,” says Monty Malone, soybean variety development lead for Xitavo® soybean seed.
That trust is earned through regional breeding stations and rigorous testing protocols, ensuring Xitavo soybean seed provides the most value and yield potential.
Soybeans Tested to Thrive in Your Specific Region
A decade of extensive work across five regional seed breeding hubs preceded Xitavo soybean seed-exclusive varieties that hit the market in 2025.
Each breeding station manages an interrelated but unique germplasm profile by looking at adaptability within their specific environment, Malone explains. The five hubs have targeted testing footprints:
- Memphis, Tennessee: mid-South and lower-Midwest
- Champaign, Illinois: central and eastern Midwest
- Nevada, Iowa: central Midwest
- Lincoln, Nebraska: central and western Midwest
- Sabin, Minnesota: upper Midwest and Northern Plains
Breeders at these stations manage a huge number of varieties, Malone explains. They start with a single cross, and in a succession of generations, these can balloon into as many as 50,000 different varieties before selections are made.
The breeders are encouraged to use the local selection pressures — diseases, pests and environmental stressors — to guide their variety selections. They apply performance pressure to whittle the large volume of varieties down to a small group called elites that stand out in native trait characteristics and yield performance within their specific environments.
Then Malone’s team, the soybean variety development team, tests the elites.
Checks and Balances Create the Best Yield Potential
While the breeding team wants the varieties to succeed, the soybean variety development team looks for ways to make them fail. It’s a solid system of checks and balances.
“The breeding team is trying to control a lot of variables. They’re ensuring the difference in performance and varieties is truly genetic — that it’s an apples-to-apples comparison. My team takes the varieties and we give them every chance to fail,” Malone explains.
Ensuring Trailblazing Genetic Progress
The industry average for developing a soybean variety for commercial sale is 6-8 years. The Xitavo soybean seed team is constantly trying to reduce that span.
“The average life cycle of a Xitavo soybean seed variety being sold commercially is 2-4 years. My team wants to be pushing varieties, because every year we introduce new genetics into the portfolio that are better,” he says.
Because farmers work from previous years’ benchmarks, they need local, relevant data.
Two years prior to launch, Malone’s team generates 70-90 data points for their Agronomic Market Placement (AMP), then advances the right products to incorporate into the portfolio, which generates 300-500 more data points with the agronomists one year before the launch.
Farming is already a tough job, which is why these regional teams work diligently to develop the most advanced soybean varieties supported by strong performance data.
“Our goal is to have a better, more adaptive variety that makes life a little easier and production a little more profitable for farmers at their local level,” says Malone. “Everything comes down to the people. From the breeding team to the development team to the agronomists, we’ve got the best, most focused soybean technical support in the industry.”
To learn more about Xitavo soybean seed and the new varieties for this upcoming season, visit www.xitavosoybeanseed.com.
Xitavo is a registered trademark of M.S. Technologies, L.L.C., West Point, IA. The transgenic soybean event in Enlist E3® soybeans is jointly developed and owned by Corteva Agriscience and M.S. Technologies, L.L.C. Enlist E3 is a trademark of Corteva Agriscience and its affiliated companies. WinField and Answer Plots are registered trademarks of WinField Solutions, L.L.C. Liberty, Outlook and Zidua are registered trademarks of BASF.
