As an independent seed company, Legend Seeds has access to all the trait platforms in the marketplace today. Legend released 52 new products in the 2017 product guide. Director of Product Development, Matt Raml said, We test these products extensively across multiple locations before bringing them to market. We have seven Knowledge Plots and seven L.E.A.P. Plots. We utilize local fields to test and develop our corn, soybean, and alfalfa portfolios.

Corn

Raml explained, This year Legend Seeds has over 19,000 corn replications across all of our locations. In most cases, by the time a corn hybrid reaches a farmer's field we have seen it for three years in the research phase prior to becoming a Legend Seeds branded product. We are confident in the success of these new numbers and they have been tested extensively. They may be new to our product line up, but they aren't new to us!”

In 2015, Legend Seeds introduced the Legend Next Generation (LNG) line up. LNG are leafy floury silage specific hybrids that have a reduced lignin component. These hybrids are designed for dairy and livestock producers across the region. Legend Seeds has seven hybrids ranging from 85 to 105 day relative maturity, available as conventional and Roundup Ready. Continuing to build the silage specific line up for 2017, Legend Seeds has added three additional Leafy Silage Hybrids that are fully traited (GENSSRIB) for corn-on-corn silage situations. Additionally, we added 27 hybrids that are considered dual purpose hybrids that complement the silage specific hybrids very well.

Soybeans

For the 2017 growing season, Legend Seeds is launching a total of 19 new beans across the three main platforms: Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield (6), Liberty Link (3) and Genuity Round Up Ready 2 Xtend (10). In 2016, Legend Seeds was one of the first companies to bring to market three Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Xtend beans.

Raml explained, With the European Union Approval on July 22, 2016, we moved ahead with the deployment of Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans. Legend Seeds has been internally testing these lines while anticipating approval. Now, we have a total of 14 in our line up.

Sunflowers

Legend Seeds is the exclusive partner of Nuseed. Jed Wall, Legend Seeds Sunflower Lead said, Nuseed tests their sunflowers at a 50-acre nursery in Colfax, North Dakota. They have 2,500 hybrids on test this year. We are extremely excited to be launching a new product in each of the three main categories: High Oleic, Conoil, and Confection.

Alfalfa

We have refreshed much of our overall alfalfa line up by introducing a new conventional line with improved disease resistance, specifically to Race 2 Aphanomyces Root Rot, and a new salt tolerant line. The past five years have brought tremendous change to the alfalfa industry. First, with the introduction of Roundup Ready alfalfa varieties and now, for 2017, a new HarvXtra product. This is the industry's first genetically enhanced alfalfa technology developed to maximize quality compared to conventional alfalfa at the same state of maturity by reducing the amount of lignin in the plant. HarvXtra offers 10-15% reduction in lignin and holds peak quality up to seven days longer than conventional alfalfa, allowing for increased flexibility in cutting schedules.