2022 New Product Of The Year: A Launch Unlike Any Other

The team at Bayer found a silver lining in its original launch timing being different from its initial plan for TriVolt herbicide. With EPA approval of TriVolt coming in February 2022, Bayer’s team pivoted quickly and placed more than 100,000 acres in demonstration plots. 

“We had the product in our hands, and our team looked for retailers and customers to experience it on a scale that showed to be the biggest demonstration campaign we’ve seen in the company,” says Marcel Mesquita, senior marketing communications manager. “This created amazing initial awareness.” 

That led to robust preorders for TriVolt. Since late 2022, the company has been staging product with retailers and growers with the goal of having 3 million acres sprayed in 2023.

Mesquita adds the demonstration acres paired with the early marketing have led to feedback from ag retailers that there’s never been a campaign from the company like this. He’s heard multiple times how farmers approached ag retailers ready to talk about product details, which really advanced the conversations from the beginning. 

“Customers are hungry for tools that are mixtures of chemistries offering improvements in weed control, especially with increased weed resistance” says Rob Schrick, strategic business lead for Bayer North America. 

TriVolt corn herbicide from Bayer provides broad-spectrum and consistent broadleaf weed and grass control to lead to visibly clean fields. TriVolt contains three active ingredients: flufenacet, isoxaflutole and thiencarbazone-methyl (groups 2, 15 and 27).

Schrick highlights the product provides a unique advantage for retailers and growers. 

“Thinking about the intensity of the U.S. corn-soybean market, there are 180 million acres roughly concentrated in 12 states. And it comes down to a grower who is growing both of those two crops, which are mostly fertilized, seeded and sprayed in a 60- to 70-day window. Ag retail plays a huge role in making that happen,” he says. “Having a tool like TriVolt will help with that. It’s a pre-emerge corn herbicide that can also be used as an early post. And you’re going to get up to eight weeks of residual control, providing greater confidence and consistency in weed control.” 

TriVolt’s formulation keeps fields clean in a variety of weather conditions. After a dry period, isoxaflutole reactivates with as little as one-half inch of rain. Under wet conditions, flufenacet’s low water solubility helps the herbicide formulation maintain grass activity. 

“All three of the chemistries are cross-spectrum herbicides. And having the three come together brings better consistency because they complement each other so well,” Schrick says.  

Weed control is a paramount demand in crop production, and it can easily be recognized as a crowded market. 

“This market is well-served, and it’s hard to raise the bar, but we feel we have,” Schrick says. 

Bayer set up cameras in multiple areas of its TriVolt demonstration fields. The company filmed 24 hours a day for eight weeks to capture and document the product’s performance in the field.

With TriVolt’s performance, consistency and effectiveness in mind, The Scoop’s audience recognized and elevated TriVolt herbicide as a welcomed tool in their toolboxes. The team members at Bayer indicated this is a message they are happy to hear. 

“This is about what we can do to take some stress off the plate of ag retailers to make their business more efficient, more effective,” Schrick says. “And that’s the consistency TriVolt herbicide will bring. When they put TriVolt on a customer’s farm, this product will deliver.”