Hurlock, Maryland
Ronnie Andrews I Choose Stine
Tackling herbicide-resistant weeds in the Delmarva region with Stine® LibertyLink® GT27® and Enlist E3® soybeans.
HurlockMaryland
For Stine® grower Ronnie Andrews, there’s no better way to start the day than an early morning on the farm. The still of the morning air, an idyllic sunrise peaking over a wave of green crops and the warmth and smell of a fresh mug of coffee bring a moment of peace to his busy life on Clearview Farms.
“As a farmer, there’s nothing better than the first thing in the morning. When you leave and the sun’s coming up and you’re riding, it’s just a peaceful, peaceful time. I tell you, it gets me a little emotional,” Ronnie reflects.
Clearview Farms is a fourth-generation operation, run by Ronnie, his wife, Susan, and two sons, Chase and Graham. They till roughly 3,000 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and some processed sweet corn, most of which is irrigated. With 36 irrigators on the farm, there’s always something to keep the family busy. In fact, Ronnie describes his typical day as chaos.
Luckily, Susan, Chase and Graham are great support on the farm. Ronnie also has help from Stine ISR Greg Harris and local Stine seed conditioner Boyle Bros., Inc. to help with timely seed and crop management decisions on the farm. But it took a little persistence from Greg to ensure Ronnie he was in the right hands with Stine.
“Well, Greg Harris, my seed dealer, he called me, and he was pestering me for two to three years, and finally I said, ‘Greg, let’s try some beans.’ And we tried them and really was impressed with them. They really yielded well and pretty much we’ve been growing them since,” Ronnie said.
From Stine LibertyLink® GT27® to Enlist E3® soybeans, Ronnie has come to appreciate the performance of Stine genetics and clean fields both products are producing for him this year
“We really ran into a lot of herbicide-resistant weeds — marestail, pigweed and Palmer, and we felt like we were up against a roadblock with the Roundup. … We decided to go with the GTs with the LibertyLink last year, and actually, all the beans that we grew were LibertyLink, and we had great results. Killed the weeds that we needed to kill, and the Liberty did a great job, and the beans yielded, too,” noted Ronnie.
This year, Ronnie added Stine Enlist E3 soybeans to the mix and has also been impressed with the genetics and trait package.
“The Enlist 5.0 bean we planted this year, so far we have it under irrigation so we’re trying to push the yields pretty hard — very happy. Very happy with them right this minute .”
We appreciate Ronnie placing his trust in the Stine brand, and we look forward to continuing to push yields on his farm in the years to come.
“I started farming when I was 10. … This is all I’ve known. My grandfather, he was a big driving factor in this. He got it going for my father. And my father has kept it going and then now, I’m the next generation to come along and keep it going, and then my boys, I hope. … I just hope that everything can keep going and they can keep striding toward the future. And that’s what it’s all about, you know, the future.”
Ronnie Andrews
