Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
425B Smyth Hall Mail Code 0403
Blacksburg, Virginia  24061
540/231-4490 FAX:  540/231-3075
egrucker@vt.edu

January 16, 2018
Dear Seed Producer:

	We invite you to participate in the 2018 Virginia Corn Testing Program.  Our corn testing program offers flexibility in choosing test locations and multi-year test results.  Our test results appear in a Virginia Cooperative Extension publication that is sent to Virginia extension agents and made available to all Virginia corn producers.  This publication and all previous publications may be found on the web at http://www.sites.ext.vt.edu/newsletter-archive/.)  Locations and fees for 2018 are as follows:  Blacksburg, Blackstone, Shenandoah Valley, Orange, and Holland - $110.00 per entry per location; Mt. Holly - $195.00 per entry (irrigated and non-irrigated sites).  Entries for each test will be replicated four times. 	

	We are equipped and have land resources to conduct a limited number of contract research projects that would generate information of benefit to you and Virginia's corn industry.  If you have small field research projects you would like to conduct in Virginia, please give me a call so that we may discuss potential projects.  We are currently planting with a Wintersteiger PlotKing 2600 and are harvesting with a Massey-Ferguson 8XP plot combine.

	Please return the entry form as soon as possible with a deadline of Friday, February 9.  Note: We’ve had issues recently with VT email being blocked by some organizations.  If you don’t receive an invoice from me (egrucker@vt.edu) in response to your electronic entry, please call me, because I may not have received the entry.  Please make sure your entry form has the insecticidal seed treatment, genetic trait package using numeric indicators found on page 2 in column 1 of the Handy Bt Trait Table (thanks to Chris DiFonzo, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI and Eileen Cullen, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI), and days to maturity indicated for each hybrid entered.  Also, please note on the entry form if an experimental hybrid from 2017 has been assigned a commercial designation for 2018.  This information is necessary when we prepare two and three year averages.  When using the Handy Bt Trait Table, please make sure it’s the December 2017 version.  The Trait Table has undergone a major transformation.

	One half pound of seed per entry per location and a full pound of seed for those entries at Mt. Holly should be sent to me by Friday, March 16 (but is very welcome much earlier than that.)  Failure to meet deadlines may result in entries being omitted from the tests.  Seed should arrive treated with the same treatments as would be applied for marketing purposes in our region.  Packaging hints (and please pass this information on to whomever is packaging your seed!): send only the amount of seed requested; zip-lock bags are great but don’t use staples; package all locations together (one bag per hybrid); ship to my attention at 1008 Old Mill Rd Blacksburg VA 24061.  

	Make checks payable to "Virginia Tech Corn Hybrid Testing" and use the mailing address below.  If you have any suggestions for improving the trials or questions concerning the trials, please feel free to contact me at (540) 231-4490 or FAX # (540) 231-3075.  You can also reach me by email at egrucker@vt.edu.

	Wade Thomason, Harry Behl, and I welcome any suggestions you may have that would make the VA Corn Performance Trials more valuable.  Please advise us of any changes of address, company names or contact people.  We look forward with optimism to a good season in 2018 and hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Rucker, Coordinator, Grain Crops Variety Testing
Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences
425B Smyth Hall Virginia Tech Mail Code 0403
Blacksburg, VA  24061
telephone (540) 231-4490
fax (540) 231-3075
e-mail egrucker@vt.edu