Latest News From Crop Protection

The OpenAg Center consists of high-tech laboratories and a newly recruited team of seasoned, sought-after scientists able to quickly validate a wide range of technologies. 

Jean Payne discusses more on dicamba as well as the curveballs that COVID-19 threw ag retailers in The Scoop podcast.

A non-selective herbicide for the preplant burndown and desiccation segments, Reviton will be one of the first new PPO herbicide to be introduced in the U.S. in more than a decade.

Nutrien Ag Solutions PCAs and scouts will be actively monitoring insect traps throughout the Salinas Valley while FMC Arc farm intelligence will visualize that data as detailed maps on a proprietary mobile app.

In 2020, the team at AMVAC, which is currently spearheading SIMPAS development, worked with five retailers to beta test the system in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.

Paul Revere said, one if by land, two if by sea, but now startup Rantizo has received swarm approval for up to three. That’s three drones for aerial applications of crop protection or seed products.

These new partners add high-quality alfalfa and expand the biostimulant and crop nutrition products in the CommoditAg lineup.

FMC Ventures announced its first portfolio investment in Trace Genomics, Inc.

This year, SeedFieldCheck will be piloted in Iowa to help seed companies communicate the location and presence of seed field workers to pesticide applicators

The contractors work with farmers and their local ag retail and agronomy teams. The services are charged by the hour. 

Participating retailers included: Asmus Farm Supply, Harvest Land Co-op, Helena Agri-Enterprises, Nutrien Ag Solutions, and Simplot Grower Solutions.

In 2020, Meristem offers seed treatments, plant growth regulators, drift control agents, water conditioners and surfactants, nitrogen stabilizers, micronutrients, foliar nutrients and diesel exhaust fluid.

“I get the question a lot if there are differences in adjuvants, and yes, there are,” says Dr. Bryan Young of Purdue University.

Amy Asmus with Asmus Farm Supply, Harold Cooper of Premier Ag, and Henry Holloway of The Mill share their experience and takeaways from helping farmers get off to a strong start in 2020.

As a result of the company’s “Innovation with Speed and Discipline" product development process, AMVAC introduces 10 new products this year. 

Nutrien Ltd, North America’s biggest farm retail supplier, moved up shipments of crop supplies by two to four weeks

“If I was on the retail side, I wouldn’t wait regarding supply, particularly for key products. I believe the logistics of those could be impacted later in the season..." says UPL's Brian Cardin.

With a goal of improving preparing to service customers in the Midwest (specifically for corn and soybeans) Trace Genomics has purchased soil processing assets and opened a soil testing lab in Ames Iowa. 

“What happens in China will have profound effects in the short term," says Samuel Taylor, vice president of farm input analysis at Robobank.

Jake Samuel, a fourth generation grower in the San Joaquin Valley of California, reports he’s seen first-hand how technology pays off with crop management decisions.

In 2018 IDA issued 233 warning letters and 14 notices of fines. In 2019, there have been 62 warning letters and 98 notices of fines. Fines are pretty evenly split between commercial and private applicators.

The impact of neonicotinoids on pollinators is a prime focus for the additional risk mitigation when using these products.

“The 2018 Farm Bill changed the status of hemp for everyone,” FieldWatch CEO Stephanie Regagnon says.

The addition of Pathway will expand Plant Response’s multi-site operations to Plant City, Florida, Koch Biological Solutions R&D site in Hayward, California, and the R&D and commercial operations in Madrid, Spain.

“Everyone is suspicious if the house will always win. But I don’t want to be accused of lying about my yields. And I don’t want to be audited by the input company. How will I sleep at night?”

Already, dealers are receiving seed shipments, and before the crunch time when planters are heading to the field, USC is encouraging seed treatment operators to ensure their machinery and systems are set up for success.

In December 2019, EPA announced approval of nine biopesticides and one conventional pesticide for use on hemp.

Bayer AG agreed to postpone two upcoming U.S. trials involving its Roundup weedkiller to allow time for mediation talks on a possible settlement with plaintiffs.

The FAO reports 80 to 90% of the global wheat cultivars are susceptible to Ug99.

To give seed dealers and farmers a new way to look at and talk about seed treatments, the Acceleron brand has released the Virtual Root Dig app.

The crop biologicals industry has a new player thanks to two entities joining together.

Syngenta alleges that Atticus’ Acadia 2SC, Acadia ESQ, Aquila XL, Artavia 2 SC and Artavia Xcel product each infringe their patents relating to manufacturing azoxystrobin fungicide.

The xarvio Scouting app provides a tool where farmers and retailers can detect in-field stresses by photo identification, which includes weeds and diseases.

If e-commerce adoption continues to increase, and if it matches the intentions of this survey’s respondents, 1 in 7 farmers will buy some of their crop inputs online. Are you ready?

Both with regional responsibilities in growing the SIpcam Agro business, Matthew Seibel and Zane Griffin have been added to the company’s account manager team.

Nufarm’s relationship with U.S. ag retailers and farmers just got deeper with the grand opening of a $20 million, 104,500 square-foot formulation and packaging facility in Greenville, Miss.

"As opposed to outcome-based grower programs that have recently hit the market, BASF's 2020 Agronomic Advantage offers flexibility and the ability to earn rewards based on agronomic needs," Scott Kay said.

In what the company says is a first of its kind application for the agricultural industry, Corteva Agriscience will use MicroMGx’s metabologenomics platform to develop naturally derived crop protection solutions.

Since launching in 2017, CommoditAg now welcomes its ninth retail partner---MFA Incorporated. This includes five MFA warehouses in Missouri and Arkansas.

BASF is now one of the four largest agricultural companies in the world and its planning to introduce more than 30 new products in the next decade.

When the supply was disrupted, all manufacturers had to react, and it wasn’t just tariffs causing the changes to supply.

As of October 1, Adrian Percy will be chief technology officer (CTO) at UPL.

Barham discusses how the company has grown its phenoxy herbicide portfolio, the changes that will move manufacturing closer to its customers, and the company’s latest seed treatment product to control nematodes.

ADAMA will work with Taranis as a strategic partner in using their aerial scouting images and artificial intelligence platform.

One example is with PCA Mike Parks, based in Healdsburg, Calif., who specializes in aquatic management.

“We started small, but we started intentionally and with focus,” says Ken Long, a general manager who oversees eight Southern States locations in central Virginia.

As part of this investment, Corteva will have rights to Lavie’s corn and soybean product pipelines.

According to Rantizo its platform is cost competitive with aerial rates at $10 to $12/acre. And next year, they are working to advance a technology upgrade to make their applications in-line with ground rig rates.

The company sold its first drone application system in April of 2019.

The company says the new biologicals provide a unique combination of two bacilli strains to control diseases such as Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) in soybeans as well as Fusarium, Rhizoctonia and Phytophthora.