Dow AgroSciences: Keeping The Pipeline Stocked
September 11, 2014 Rajan Garjaria, global leader, North America and Latin America for Dow AgroSciences, spoke for many suppliers to the agricultural market describing the Indianapolis, IN-based company’s fortunes recently. “It’s a fantastic market for us to be in right now,” said Gajaria, speaking at the company’s media day in mid-August. “The sales for the agricultural group will hit $7.5 billion this year. And that’s up significantly from the $1.8 billion in sales this group saw back in 1999.”
In truth, said Cliff Gerwick, leader, crop protection discovery research, part of the reason for this growth ties back to the company’s willingness to nurture and bring new products to market. “The number of new active ingredients over the past few years has plummeted,” said Gerwick. “But here at Dow, we have more new products in our pipeline than we’ve ever had.”
One of these, of course, is the Enlist Weed Control System. Featuring a new herbicide-tolerant trait system utilizing a 2,4-D choline, Dow AgroSciences hopes that Enlist will provide another tool for the agricultural community to control the host of weeds that have developed resistance to glyphosate. In use, the system will consist of three different components: Enlist Duo herbicide with Colex-D technology, Enlist traits and the Enlist Ahead app, which can be used by growers and applicators to determine how best to manage weeds and apply Enlist Duo.
“Two key features of the app — the application planner and the mode of action calculator — will help them make informed decisions for their weed control program and herbicide applications,” said Damon Palmer, commercial leader, Enlist Weed Control System. “This will maximize their herbicide investment and help them get the most from Enlist technology in the future.”
According to Palmer, the USDA has released its final environmental impact statements regarding the Enlist Weed Control System. If all goes well, the company could have the necessary regulatory approvals in place to offer the Enlist system to users in time for the 2015 spring season. In anticipation of this, Dow AgroSciences has set up 17 different locations around the U.S. to provide field training to potential Enlist Weed Control System users.
“And we’ve had a large focus on ag retailers at some of these sites,” said Palmer. “So many of them will be ready to assist their grower-customers in using Enlist in their fields when the time is right.”
Other Tools
In addition to the Enlist Weed Control System, another tool for users to handle herbicide-resistant weeds is to employ the company’s Surveil Co-pack and Sonic herbicides. “Herbicide-resistant weeds can quickly outcomplete the crop if growers do not stay ahead of the problem and continue to evolve their herbicide programs,” said Lindsey Hecht, U.S. product manager for soybean herbicides and glyphosate. “The use of Surveil Co-pack and Sonic can help to control hard-to-manage weeds better than using glyphosate only programs.” According to Hecht, both herbicides are good at controlling such weeds as waterhemp, lambsquarter, marestail and cocklebur.
Besides crop protection products, Dow AgroSciences also has offerings in the crop nutrients arena. According to Tiffany Galloway, U.S. product manager for nitrogen stabilizers, the company’s portfolio of these brands — which include N-Serve and Instinct II — can help keep applied nitrogen in the plant’s root zone longer. “Nitrogen management is critical to grow healthy corn crops and to build a more sustainable world,” said Galloway. “Stabilizing nitrogen reduces the amount of nitrogen loss into the environment, which is a beneficial farming practice on multiple levels.”
Moving forward, Dow AgroSciences new President/CEO Tim Hassinger believes the company will continue to lead the way in product discovery and development, even if market challenges come into play. “The biggest challenge we face in the crop protection business today is when politics becomes part of the regulatory process vs. science,” said Hassinger. “But we as a company have to be prepared to address both of these areas. Science doesn’t scare us.”
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