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 10, 2014

Dear Seed Producer:

	We invite you to participate in the 2014 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 may be found on the worldwide web at http://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/CSES/CSES-72/CSES-72.html.  Locations and fees for 2014 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. 	
	Also, 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 14.  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 21.  Failure to meet these deadlines may result in entries being omitted from the tests.  We will accept seed treated with insecticide, but no additional fungicides may be used.  Please make sure your entry form has insecticidal seed treatments, genetic trait package using numeric indicators found in column 1 of the Handy Bt Trait Table (Chris DiFonzo, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI and Eileen Cullen, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI), and days to maturities indicated.  Also, please note on the entry form if an experimental hybrid from 2013 has been assigned a commercial designation for 2014.  This information is necessary when we prepare two and three year averages.  Packaging hints (and please pass this information on to whomever is packaging your seed!): send only the amount of seed requested; ziplocs 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 2014 and hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Hokanson, 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

Enc.