In a state known for pheasants, it's not unexpected to find South Dakota's state bird nestled among the crops. But while pheasant hunters are accustomed to having to flush the fowl from its hiding spot, travelers flying over the rural town of Willow Lake, S.D. won't have to look very hard to spot a pair of ringnecks taking flight from the corn in plain view.

Area farmer Trav Bratland worked with Legend Seeds on a multi-hybrid seeding prescription to create a larger-than-life crop art installation in his field southeast of Willow Lake. Visible from more than 4,000 feet in the air, the two pheasants flanking the Legend Seeds logo are more than just a spectacle; they showcase the practical applications of a technology that enables farmers to maximize yield and increase profit margins.

Multi-hybrid planting allows growers to plan offensive, or racehorse, hybrids for high productivity soil and defensive, or workhorse, hybrids for low productivity soil, enabling the most effective corn hybrid to be placed on each acre. As the precision and clarity of the images in Trav's field demonstrates, our system is accurate almost down to the square foot, said Josh Lamecker, Legend Sales Agronomist.

Legend Seeds is the only company in the industry to offer Farmacology, a collection of research, resources, and tools aimed at helping dealers and growers achieve the most value for their seed investment, from choosing the right seed for their fields to providing support throughout the growing season.

The Legend Edge, a cloud-based Farmacology software tool, provides Legend Seeds' dealers the data and information to work side-by-side with customers and make agronomic decisions that will help them earn more money per acre. Legend Seeds IT System Manager Jason Davis used the program to create the cutting-edge prescriptive multi-hybrid seeding plan which resulted in the images. According to Davis, two hybrids were planted: one with dark green leaves and red tassels and another with light green leaves and yellow tassels to visually demonstrate the accuracy of multi-hybrid planting. The corn was planted in 30-inch rows with a 24-row John Deere planter equipped with Precision Planting multi-hybrid meters.

Attendees at regional farm shows at our upcoming regional farm shows will have the opportunity to get a closer look at this technology. A multi-hybrid planter and coverage of Farmacology tools and the crop art images will be on display at each of the shows. More information on Legend Seeds precision ag and research offerings is also available at any of our Knowledge Plots.