Zach Hinsch, a third-generation corn and soybean farmer from Goodhue, Minnesota, has heard it all. “When I see a seed company claim they have a yield advantage over another company, to be honest, it really doesn’t mean anything,” Hinsch said. “Are we looking at that seed company’s best hybrids against the other seed company’s worst hybrids or older hybrids? When we look at yield data, we want to start seeing every company’s best-performing hybrids in head-to-head comparisons.”

And in local fields. This was especially true for Hinsch as he was looking at solutions for his corn-on-corn acres. His typical rotation is two-year corn and one-year soybeans, which enables him to keep diseases at bay and increase his soybean yields. But he wanted to take better advantage of today’s high-performing corn-on-corn hybrids.

“We struggled with those corn-on-corn acres in the past, both in choosing the right hybrids and then making the right management decisions,” Hinsch said. “The most important thing is getting the right product for my specific acres. That requires knowing my farm, and the fields I’m planting into.”

Confidence Comes Close to Home

Hinsch found the answers he needed only a few miles away by working with his local retail agronomist, Justin Schaefer of Ag Partners Co-op in Wanamingo, Minnesota.

“CROPLAN^® seed has a great system in their Answer Plot^® program,” Schaefer said. “We’ll take a lot of growers like Zach out to the Answer Plot site throughout the season and look at different ways of producing that crop so they can get a sense for how things might work in their own fields.”

The Answer Plot program from WinField^® United includes sites across the U.S. that test and retest top-performing seed in local soils. At their local Answer Plot site, Schaefer and Hinsch can evaluate standability, emergence, disease tolerance and how hybrids respond to inputs such as fungicides, higher nitrogen rates or different seed rates. They can also compare CROPLAN hybrids and other brands under the same conditions.

“We utilize the Answer Plot system to help us make hybrid decisions, and a big part of that is looking at their response-to scores,” Hinsch explained. “The Answer Plot trials do a great job of showcasing hybrids’ response to nitrogen, response to fungicides and response to population scores so we can evaluate what the best rate of nitrogen is to apply, if we should be applying a fungicide or not, and what is the best seeding rate.”

It all led to Hinsch selectingCROPLAN’s CP4444VT2P and CP3980VT2P, both VT DoublePRO-traited hybrids, for his corn-on-corn acres.

While Answer Plot performance can be a good indicator, the ultimate proving ground is a farmer’s ground. And both Hinsch and Schaefer have liked what they’ve seen. “CROPLAN seed has performed very well in our fields. Its disease tolerance, standability and overall yield potential has really impressed me,” Hinsch said.

For Schaefer, consistent performance in a farmer’s proving ground makes his job a little easier.

“What makes me confident in recommending CROPLAN seed is that growers have come back year after year, and they ask for more of it,” Schaefer said.“Obviously, it’s performing for them.”

To see the latest performance results from your area or find a local Answer Plot, visit croplan.com.

© 2026 WinField United. Important: Before use always read and follow label instructions. Crop performance is dependent on several factors many of which are beyond the control of WinField United, including without limitation, soil type, pest pressures, agronomic practices and weather conditions. Growers are encouraged to consider data from multiple locations, over multiple years and to be mindful of how such agronomic conditions could impact results. Answer Plot, CROPLAN and WinField are trademarks of WinField United. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.