Keylon Ghoston is Monsanto‘s Cotton Product Manager and 2016 marks 20 years of the company’s Bollgard Cotton brand. To honor this anniversary Ghoston attended the recent Mid-South Farm & Gin Show and spoke with AgWired about the history and the future of this product.
Bollgard came along at just the right time in 1996. The previous year growers all along the cotton belt had been hurt by an outbreak of tobacco bug worms. The pest hurt yields and showed resistance to pyrethroids. Bollgard offered a solution, followed not long by Bollgard 2.
“Its’ the 24 hour a day, 7 days a week protection that’s in the field,” Ghoston says when asked what makes Bollgard stand out. “Even when, before Bollgard, we weren’t at levels that triggered a spray of pyrethroid, we were still loosing some yield because there was some amount of worms present. With the Bollgard technology that protection is there everyday, 24 hours a day.”
Just around the corner is the release of Bollgard 3, expected for the 2017 growing season. This new product reflects the tremendous investment Monstanto has made in cotton as it will protect against worms and offer weed control and can be used with multiple modes of action.
Learn more about Bollgard in the full interview with Keylon Ghoston here: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/MSFGS-16-Gohlston_.mp3″ text=”Interview with Keylon Ghoston, Monsanto”]
2016 Mid-South Farm & Gin Show Photo Album
