Herbicide Discovery Takes Modern Turn on Resistance
Advances in technology have the potential to help counter a sharp drop seen since the mid-1990s in the number of new modes of herbicide being patented, writes Liz Wells at Grain Central. That was the message from Colorado State University Professor Franck Dayan, who gave a keynote address on current and future prospects in herbicide discovery at the Australian Agronomy Conference held in Toowoomba this week.
Professor Dayan said consolidation of companies in the agricultural chemical industry, coupled with a focus on the development of glyphosate-resistant crops, has done little to bolster the grower’s armory against weeds. “Very few new mode of actions are coming out, but it’s not all bad news,” Professor Dayan said.
Among the causes for hope are the ability of traditional chemical companies and innovators to turn old and new chemistry into new modes of action, and the use of innovation coming from start-ups.
Professor Dayan can see no reason for glyphosate to exit from farming systems, but said a lack of innovation caused by it being such a successful herbicide is of concern. “Then things stand still and things go wrong and then we have these issues of herbicide resistance happening because we only have a limited number of herbicide types,” he said.
He said a reduction in the number of R&D teams working within the industry overall had contributed to the crash in numbers of new modes of action patented so far this century.
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