Despite weather extremes, two new Armor Seed soybean varieties delivered standout yield in the South.
For soybean growers across the South, 2025 was a challenging year. Early planting windows were followed by heavy rains through May and into June. Then, it turned hot and dry through July and August.
“It was a year of extremes,” says Eric Kennedy, a seed product manager at Armor® Seed. “These adverse conditions put our products under a microscope from an intense trial standpoint — not only in trial plots but also in growers’ fields.”
Tough years like this are exactly what the Armor soybean seed lineup is built for. By combining high-powered genetics with locally proven products, growers can expect cutting-edge trait technologies paired with the regional expertise to make them work.
New Products Held Strong
Looking back on 2025 performance, Kennedy says two XtendFlex® Armor soybean varieties stood out for consistency for both early- and late-planted windows. “Based on what I’ve heard from growers plus the yield data we’ve gathered, our newest releases are meeting and exceeding expectations.”
New to the market in 2025, Armor 48-F55S soybeans yielded an average of 83.6 bu/A across eight Answer Plot® locations in six states.1 If you have much field variability, then growers should consider using Armor 48-F75S, a high-potential WinPak® variety that offers strong offensive and defensive traits plus excellent standability from both parent lines.
“Based on feedback I’ve received, our growers were pleased with how this variety yielded, especially considering the environmental conditions that it went through,” says Kennedy.
The second standout, Armor 47-F66S soybeans yielded an average of 83.5 bu/A across the same eight Answer Plot locations in six states. Now available in 2026, this new STS excluder variety is an option for early planting, double crop and Delta rice acres. With a medium-tall, medium-bush plant type, it performs well across all soil types.
Tips for Success This Season
According to Kennedy, this past year was a good example of how you don’t know what the year is going to bring or what the toughest stresses will be, so growers must do their best to manage the risk. With proper planning and product placement, growers can overcome even the toughest production challenges.
Source: https://www.farmprogress.com/