2025 Crop Season Recap with Corteva’s Brad Burkhart: What Farmers Should Carry Into 2026
The 2025 crop season delivered one of the most dynamic agronomic storylines we’ve seen in years — and this week, we sit down with Brad Burkhart, Market Development Specialist for Corteva Agriscience, to break down what really happened in the field and what farmers can use to get ahead for 2026.
Across the Corn Belt and Plains, Brad observed three defining themes: disease pressure emerging in new pockets, waterhemp advancing beyond expected boundaries, and early-season conditions that forced growers to tighten their crop protection decisions. While challenges were real, so were the wins — and many came from strong product performance in high-pressure environments.
This episode is packed with real farm examples, actionable recommendations, and 2026 planning insights that every crop producer should hear.
🌾 The 2025 Agronomy Story: Conditions That Shaped the Season
Farmers knew heading into spring that the year could swing drastically. A cool, uneven start followed by intermittent heat created ideal environments for disease to enter early. Brad explains how pathogens didn’t stay confined to traditional hotspots — instead, they traveled across state lines, showing up in regions that typically see lower pressure.
On the weed front, waterhemp continued its march, creeping in from edges and waterways and filling rows faster than many expected. Its adaptability, emergence pattern, and resistance profile made early-season decisions more critical than ever.
Through it all, growers who layered products, used flexible timing windows, and matched solutions to field-specific challenges gained the greatest advantage.
🍃 The Big “Wins” of 2025 — Real-World, In-Field Results
Brad breaks down the most impressive successes he saw this season, and the numbers speak for themselves.
🔥 Forcivo™ Fungicide — A Standout in High Pressure
2025 was a year when fungicide performance made or broke yield potential. Forcivo stood out, especially when paired with Aproach® Prima.
👉 On one Iowa farm, the Forcivo + Aproach Prima combination delivered a massive 49 bu/A yield lift compared to untreated acres.
Those kinds of numbers aren’t theoretical — they’re real responses to real pressure. Brad emphasizes how growers who treated proactively outperformed those who waited for visible symptoms.
🌱 Resicore® REV & Kyro™ Herbicides — Residual Strength That Held
As waterhemp pressure intensified, farmers leaned heavily on the dependable, flexible performance of Resicore REV and Kyro.
Brad shares a notable example from Iowa:
👉 An Iowa grower achieved 8 full weeks of residual waterhemp control thanks to the encapsulated acetochlor technology in Resicore REV.
Flexibility in application window, strong tank-mix options, and long-lasting activity gave farmers more control — not just clean fields, but cleaner fields longer.
🌸 Soybean Herbicide Standouts: Enversa™, Sonic® Boom & Kyber® Pro
With dicamba uncertainty and resistance patterns shifting, farmers searched for alternatives that delivered wide-spectrum control without sacrificing timing flexibility.
Brad points to multiple wins, including:
Enversa™ + Enlist One®:
A Nebraska farm completely eliminated pigweed pressure using this combination — even under heavy emergence pressure.Sonic® Boom & Kyber® Pro:
These programs delivered consistent activity across broad-spectrum weeds with application windows extending through V4/V5, giving growers more breathing room during hectic spring workloads.
For soybean growers, these tools represented a critical expansion of choice and performance heading into 2026.
🌾 Tolvera® Herbicide — A Rare New Mode of Action for Cereals
New actives are rare — but 2025 delivered one with Tolvera®, and cereal growers took notice.
Brad highlights one Montana example where Tolvera:
Controlled kochia
Knocked back narrowleaf hawksbeard
Managed wild buckwheat
Maintained rotation flexibility that growers depend on
For cereal acres, this was one of the most talked-about upgrades of the year.
📈 What Farmers Should Take Into 2026
Brad wraps with a strategic, field-ready look at how to apply 2025 lessons to the coming season.
1. Map Problem Areas Now
Disease pockets, weed escapes, low-yield zones — the offseason is the best time to chart what happened and why.
2. Update Weed Control Programs
With resistance evolving, stale programs are expensive programs. Brad recommends reviewing:
Timing windows
Residual layers
Tank-mix compatibility
Soybean trait system flexibility
3. Build a Strong Fungicide Strategy
2025 proved that waiting until symptoms appear is too late.
4. Lean on Data From Real Fields
Wins from 2025 should influence 2026. Long-term ROI comes from identifying patterns — and sticking with what works under pressure.
🎧 Listen to the Full Conversation
👉 Stream the episode on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/farm4profit-podcast/id1470546918
