Why Ag Retailers Play a Key Role in Adjuvant Education
According to Terry Kippley, President and CEO of the Council of Producers and Distributors of Agrotechnology (CPDA), “An estimated 25% of all pesticide applications include an adjuvant in the spray mixture.”
And it is retailers who play a key role when it comes to “assisting growers in making a safe, beneficial and efficacious pesticide application by pairing the best adjuvant with each pesticide product,” he says.
“This includes grower training on the proper boom height, speed, spray pressure and weather conditions. Choosing the right adjuvant can impact the performance of the product by up to 50%, so grower education is essential for optimizing every spray application.”
Dr. Lucy Marshall, Research Director, Biosorb, concurs.
Retailers “are trained individuals who want their customers, farmers, or applicators, to maximize the performance of their treatments, whether it’s nutritional, weed, disease, or insect control,” she says.
“Retailers want to ensure that customers have good field results so that they will return as satisfied customers. The retailers’ main role is education and outreach for their customers.”
Jeff Bunting, Vice President of Crop Protection, GROWMARK, adds that, “Retailers close the gap of the how and why adjuvants are being used,” he says. “Now with the current herbicide strategies [and subsequent insecticide strategy, released in April 2025], the role of a certified crop advisor will be even more important as we begin to use products that provide the necessary mitigations points.”
While growers are embracing regulatory and other changes in the industry, there’s a continued need for more education and product awareness of why you are spending money to improve performance or mitigate pesticide challenges, Bunting explains.
That’s where retailers can help to “showcase the strength and need for adjuvants, and that they have evolved from what their earlier generation may have used,” says Bunting.
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