Post-Covid, U.S. Ag Strives to Balance Cost, Weed Management

Beyond dealing with uncooperative weather, supply chain management was the biggest takeaway of the 2022 season.

“Overall, it was good, although a lot of folks were struggling to keep up with the planter and didn’t get residual PREs out like we really want to. That’s the nature of the beast,” Matthew Inman, Agronomist and Technical Marketing Manager with BASF, said.

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“In the end people made it work, but it was a very tight season,” Dave Feist, Seed and Product Strategy Collaboration Leader at ADAMA US, told CropLife® magazine. “There weren’t too many (growers) that didn’t get what they needed in ’22, but that was only because of the super efforts of retailers and the distribution network, who went above and beyond.”

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Prices are declining more quickly for fungicides and insecticides than herbicides, and international shipping costs are finally abating as well, but sky-high local transportation costs are eating up the savings, according to Feist. As people get back into purchasing for ’23, people are holding back more, he and others noted.

In 2022, Feist observed that “people were more nervous and more proactive than I’ve ever seen.”

Partly a result of nervous overbuying, warehouses are now full — a wildly different situation than last year’s extremely low inventories.

“And they’re not guaranteeing space,” Tom Wood, General Manager at Belchim Crop Protection USA, said. “That’s a symptom of people not taking risks last year, and they’re doing more onshoring of their formulations, wanting to shrink their supply chain, reducing their risk exposure.” Wood added: “Herbicides are a supply chain story and securing supply earlier rather than later.”

Are we slowly returning to “normal?” According to Mike Henderson, Executive Vice President, Ag Markets for Atticus LLC, “we are not going back to the pre-COVID era in our estimate. We are establishing a new normal, though.”

Pre-COVID, the speed from technical AI synthesis to finished goods was much shorter than it is today. Henderson acknowledged that businesses are generally adapting to the demands of the supply chain changes by building in more lead time for transportation and more time for tolling. “It becomes a labor issue more than anything else, he said.”

At the field level, producers will continue to search for best price to value, even though the industry continues to enjoy high commodity prices, Henderson added. “I think we find ourselves in an environment where more than ever, decisions are scrutinized by the producer, and I think that’s good, because they learn about where the alternatives are for some of the standard application treatments that they’ve used for decades,” he said.

“I would encourage everybody to not delay purchases too long — make sure they have a secure supply early. We still have products with intermediate shortages,” ADAMA’s Feist said. “Make solid plans early and take advantage so they have purchases locked in. Be careful on chasing offers that are too good to be true. We want our customers to have what they need at the end of the day.”

At The Field Level

In Iowa, an aggressive dicamba cutoff of June 20 meant growers needed to scramble and Enlist applications on soybeans were pushed even later as well.

“One of the biggest things we saw this past year was that we struggled to get control of waterhemp with Enlist, because by the time we got after the weeds, they were so large,” Tyler Steinkamp, Agronomist with WinField United, explained. “As a consequence, we saw a lot of late applications of Liberty trying to clean up some of these fields, and a lot of them were off label.”

Overall, he was impressed with yields and how well fields were able to get cleaned up, but next year a better plan, with (hopefully) better planting conditions and timely applications will be critical. “The most important thing is to kill it the first time. If you piss it off, it’s difficult to kill (weeds) the second time around,” he joked.

Despite high crop values, rate-cutting was observed by most people with whom we spoke.

“The year before, they may have paid $30 for a gallon, and this year it was $60 to $65,” ADAMA’s Feist said.

Having a plan up front is key, but you also need to be willing to pivot, WinField United’s Steinkamp stressed. In season, if suddenly the weeds are larger than expected and conditions are hotter and dryer where it’s tough to control the weeds, “you had better be ready to bump rates back up. Otherwise, no amount of adjuvant is going to fix 100% of those issues. It will help you get more into the plant, but in the end you can’t override mother nature.”

Getting Small Details Right

Weed scientists and agronomists are reinforcing the message that herbicides are not a place to cut corners.

Waterhemp in Highland, IL. Photo: Syngenta

Waterhemp in Highland, IL. Photo: Syngenta

“If growers use resistance management principles, meaning start clean — whether it’s tillage or effective burndown plus a preemerge residual application — and use a two-pass program, I think it’s the best way of managing resistance out in the field,” Kevin Scholl, Agronomy Service Representative with Syngenta in Wyoming, IL, said. “So many times growers will use an herbicide that has multiple active ingredients, but if you don’t have multiple effective sites of action against waterhemp, for example, that’s going to bring about resistance pretty quickly to that site of action.”

Wood said many growers who wait too long to apply open the door to resistance issues. Belchim’s flagship herbicide product, Tough 5EC, as with most herbicides, works most effectively when weeds are smaller (i.e., 3 to 4 inches), but past that weeds steal nutrients from the crop and rob yields. As a newer alternative product, Tough 5EC is an effective resistance management tool. Adding 8 ounces to your tank mix with HPPDs (e.g., mesotrione) or dicamba formulations (e.g., Status) can significantly improve control of resistant weeds even up to 100%. Tough is also proven effective to lower dose rates of topramazone (e.g., Impact) formulations, he added.

Another alternative product new to the scene is Valent U.S.A.’s entrance into the corn herbicide market with Maverick, which received EPA registration in July and brings much-needed flexibility to growers. Maverick boasts three effective modes of action (clopyralid, a Group 4 – Plant-Growth Inhibitors; mesotrione, a Group 27- HPPD Inhibitors; and pyroxasulfone, a Group 15 – Very-Long-Chain Fatty Acid Inhibitors), for long-lasting, broadspectrum control of weeds, including waterhemp, Palmer amaranth, marestail, and annual grasses. It can be applied preplant up to 18-inch corn, has low use rates and excellent compatibility with atrazine.

“One of the things that stood out most as we had shortages of glufosinate and glyphosate is the importance of residuals, applied early in season so you’re not fully reliant on the post application, especially with supply chain challenges,” Erick Garcia, Product Manager with Valent U.S.A., said. “Having a wider application window on your residuals is important especially dealing with weather that is becoming more unpredictable.”

On the approach to 2023, Garcia added: “Doing the small things right is going to be very important — targeting weeds when they’re small, applying a residual herbicide, using the correct adjuvants, and not skimping on water.” He noted that while supplies should be in a better position, “we want to make sure we’re using every ounce of product to maximize its efficiency during the ’23 use season.”

BASF’s Inman stressed the need for continuous stewardship, a long-term view, and adopting a total approach mindset that includes use of cultural and mechanical tools.

“Preventing resistance is about reducing the soil weed seedbank — preventing escapes at harvest, and preventing late-season weeds. We need every tool that we have, whether that’s the Xtend or Enlist system or neither. I think everyone can agree on that regardless of which direction you go” he said.

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