Wheat

FMC has research plots at the Agriculture Center in Memphis, TN. When I first began my internship I visited some wheat trials. Our "tech service" guys use the plots to run tests with different chemical responses vs. untreated crops.



The picture above shows an untreated plot on the left and a treated plot on the right. The reason that they are so dramtically different is because of a process called "lodging" in wheat. Rye grass is considered a huge problem in wheat and is the reason for lodging; the wheat falls over to the ground and cannot stand up straight. When this happens the crop is difficult to harvest, the yield is decreased, and the farmer loses both time and money. FMC's goal is to get a label for a post application to protect wheat.