BY DAVID VINCENT
Contributing Writer, Delta Business Journal

  SHELBY - In many ways, Allendale Planting Company is on the cutting-edge of Delta agriculture, and perhaps even agriculture everywhere. In an extremely tight farm economy, and at a time when farming is under siege to improve its environmental record, this Shelby-based enterprise is doing some interesting things worth watching.
  Nine thousand acres of cotton, soybeans, rice, wheat and corn make Allendale Planting Company one of the larger farm operations in the Delta. The company likes to experiment, try new technology, and rely heavily on agronomic research, much of which is conducted on site and in cooperation with Mississippi State University. It's also not afraid to take risks, given there's no riskier business than farming.
  "Our approach is to continually look for ways to cut crop production costs and to conserve natural resources," said Bill Steed, Allendale's farm manager for rice, corn and soybeans. "With commodity prices so low, we have to reduce input costs in order to remain profitable."
  A "systems" approach of producing crops is used, not only to help the operation remain profitable, but also to ensure good environmental stewardship. That system consists of several components, including use of conservation tillage practices that conserve fuel and fight soil erosion, planting of transgenic crops that feature the latest developments in agricultural biotechnology, and less reliance on some types of pesticides, such as soil-applied preplant residual herbicides and cotton insecticides.
  Allendale Planting Company is also partnering with St. Louis-based Monsanto Company in a joint research effort that is providing some valuable economic, agronomic and environmental data relevant to crop production under Delta conditions. This partnership between the two companies began four years ago and is ongoing.
  Monsanto's genetically enhanced crops, such as Roundup Ready¨ cotton, Bollgard¨ cotton, Roundup Ready soybeans, and Bollgard with Roundup Ready stacked-gene cotton, have been tested at Allendale for several years. The same is true of conservation tillage, a method of farming that reduces or minimizes use of tillage and relies instead on herbicides to control weeds. Other research projects conducted jointly between Allendale Planting Company and Monsanto include evaluating stacked gene cotton, ultra-narrow row cotton production, in-row subsoiling in no-till and minimum tillage systems, and Roundup herbicide tolerance in Roundup Ready crops.
  "We're collecting long-term "on-farm" economic and agronomic data comparing these new crop technologies and farming practices to other products and systems," said Rives Neblett, owner of Allendale Planting Company.  "We're especially interested in developing reduced- and no-tillage systems for cotton that are economical and practical. And, we want to address environmental concerns like soil erosion and water quality across all crops."
  A good case in point is no-till. An Allendale study comparing tillage, herbicide and application costs in no-till and minimum tillage cotton systems showed a savings of almost $15 per acre; $117.39 for the conventional versus $102.69 for no-till. Additional savings on equipment can also be substantial when comparing no-till and conventional production systems.
 Because large, heavy tillage implements don't have to be dragged across fields, farmers can use smaller horsepower tractors requiring less fuel and maintenance. Mississippi State University figures show that switching from a 210 horsepower to a 150 horsepower tractor can mean a savings of $3,000 per year, or 24 percent in annual fixed costs.
  No-till and conservation tillage practices usually translate into significant savings in labor costs as well. Fewer hired hands are needed to keep a farming operation humming when multiple tillage and cultivation trips are eliminated. And with less plowing, there's a substantial decrease in the amount of soil runoff that finds its way into drainage ditches, creeks and rivers.
  "Roundup Ready cotton and soybeans make no-till and conservation tillage more feasible for Delta farmers, even under the unique soil conditions we have here," explained Dr. Anthony Mills, Monsanto market development specialist who helped set up the company's partnership with Allendale Planting Company. "By using Roundup Ultra¨ herbicide instead of plows and cultivators to control weeds before and after planting, weed control is no longer an obstacle to adoption of reduced tillage practices."
  Bollgard cotton, which contains a naturally occurring soil bacterium that helps control major pests like the tobacco budworm and cotton bollworm, has demonstrated its fit in Delta cotton production in Allendale Planting Company field trials. In side-by-side field tests between Bollgard and conventional cotton varieties, the transgenic cotton performed better; in terms of yield and average net economic gain; in eight out of eleven trials during the past four seasons.
  "Compared to use of conventional insecticides, the Bollgard cotton produced an average net gain of $68.35 per acre," says Allendale farm manager Bill O'Neal, who tends to cotton and corn crops. "We're very well pleased with Bollgard performance. This technology has decreased our insecticide costs, which are a major expense in cotton."
  O'Neal added that this economic comparison includes the technology fee paid for use of Bollgard. "This technology has helped keep us in the cotton business," he observed.
  In most of the tests at Allendale, farm managers split the fields, planting transgenic crops on one half and conventional technology on the other half of the field. This approach, usually taken on larger fields, provides a head-to-head comparison that is very useful in evaluating crop inputs and performance. "These are "real world" comparisons that give us better data compared to laboratory and small-plot trials," Monsanto's Mills said.
  Farm manager O'Neal claimed that he is "especially excited" about performance of the Bollgard with Roundup Ready stacked-gene cotton at Allendale Planting Company. This cotton not only contains the gene which helps fight cotton budworm and bollworm; it also features the gene that allows over-the-top and post-directed application of Roundup Ultra herbicide to control weeds. "We've planted about one-third of our cotton acreage to the stacked-gene cotton," O'Neal said.
  Says farm manager Bill Steed: "We don't always necessarily get increased yields using these new technologies, but we are able to produce the same or better yields at less cost. We've been very encouraged by the results we've seen here."