Generics Gaining Ground

As the generics market grows in the U.S., it may well change how retailers sell crop protection.

“Generics are going to play a bigger role in the future, and we need to learn how to deal with them,” says Jeff Eggleston, general manager of Hintzsche Fertilizer, Maple Park, IL. “It’s not just pricing. The retail trade needs to learn how to manage generic products.” This is more than just the ever-increasing number of glyphosate registrations. He points to the number of new companies entering the U.S. generics market, including smaller companies putting up the money for data requirements and gaining registrations on technical materials coming out of China, India, or other major generics producting countries.

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For now, there’s a division of thought on generics management.

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Despite the lower margins provided by Chinese generic imports, Roger Oliver, president of Van Horn Inc., Cerro Gordo, IL, says his dealership has been working with generics the last two years, and his customers are happy.

Greg Musson, general manager of Gar Tootelian Inc., Reedley, CA, says “we like generics because our growers like generics.”

Brandt Consolidated’s Tim McArdle doesn’t believe that generics are the correct route for Midwestern retailers.

While Frenchman Valley Cooperative would rather not sell generic products, “we are forced to by our growers sometimes,” says Cleve Anderson, agronomy division manager for the Imperial, NE-based cooperative. “But if we do sell a generic, we offer no services with that. We do not spray on generic herbicides, let me put it to you that way.”

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