There’s an old Chinese curse I’ve referred to in the past: May you live in interesting times. In this instance, “interesting” is another word for “complicated.”
This week, the annual CropLife America meeting is taking place in Naples, FL. From early reports from our folks attending the event, crop protection company representatives are mostly upbeat for the future. They are also reporting that new crop protection products will be in plentiful supply, if not for spring 2011 then in a few years down the road.
Now I remember when I first started in this business back in fall 2000, many market watchers were saying that crop protection wasn’t “where the action is” when it comes to new developments, particularly in herbicides. Back then, glyphosate was doing a wonderful job of controlling virtually every troublesome weed and spraying more of it seemed to be the answer to all problems.
Flash-forward to 2010, however, and the herbicide landscape has altered somewhat. Glyphosate-resistance weeds have become very numerous and hard to control. One BASF representative I spoke with recently mentioned that approximately 70% of the Palmer pigweed in Georgia’s cotton fields in 2009 had to be weeded “by hand.”
And the problem is growing more widespread. In our annual CropLife 100 retailers survey, when asked if glyphosate-resistant weeds were an issue in their areas, 91% of respondents thus far have said “yes,” with 32% indicating they are a “major” problem.
Ultimately, this will mean plenty of “interesting times” ahead for the crop protection industry when it comes to weed control. Luckily, based upon conversations I’ve had with companies such as BASF and Bayer CropScience, there appear to be several new active ingredients just over the horizon.
Of course, whether any of these is the “magic bullet” solution glyphosate has been remains to be seen. But it should be interesting to find out, nonetheless.
