Daily Dicamba Update: Q&A with GROWMARK’s Jeff Bunting
April 30, 2018 CropLife spoke with Dr. Jeff Bunting, Crop Protection Division Manager, GROWMARK, Inc., on how dicamba applications went last year, and what actions his company took over the winter to make sure that the 2018 season is as successful as possible.
CL: What was GROWMARK’s experience last year with dicamba?
If we go back in 2017 I would say we had a good year. I wouldn’t say it was a great year, but we took all the needed steps in preparation, training, and communication around the technology and some of the concerns. We didn’t have any major issues. I’m speaking more from the standpoint of our custom applicators and growers that bought the chemistry from FS members and our customers. The numbers – based on acreage treated and claims that were turned in – were a lot lower than I thought given the heightened awareness and concerns going into 2017.
It’s good to reflect on those successes and positives, but we all have a short memory. You’re only as good as the next day or the next year, and right now we are in a new year. It’s like a baseball season. No one remembers who won the World Series last year, but we all have plans that our team wins this year, and we’re taking steps to achieve those goals.
CL: You said you didn’t have major issues with dicamba, but you did have some issues. Can you expand on that?
If I look at a percentage of the total claims from last year, dicamba was not number one. We still had a number of non-dicamba concerns, but I’ll put dicamba at 40% and all others at 60% as far issues that were turned into insurance services here at GROWMARK. Of those, roughly 130 were dicamba-related from serviced and/or sold acres across the GROWMARK trade area. Those issues included improper field application, drift, tank contamination, etc. We had one major issue that was from one tank contamination that accounted for 63% of our total dicamba-related issues. If we take out that large complaint, we had very few concerns from the preseason list of concerns that many of our customers and members were thinking. Our process was to report any and all issues around dicamba. Some of the issues didn’t result in an economic loss, but our focus was making sure we did it right and learn from the technology.
I realize that some issues didn’t get turned in. We continue to learn from the experiences that our crop specialists had last summer and implemented many of those findings from our own internal survey into our fall and winter training sessions.
CL: Did you get a lot of positive feedback on dicamba? What were the big wins?
We try to get a lot of information from crop specialists and their interactions with the producers. Going back to last year, we knew we had to have an answer for a growing number of resistant weeds we see in our footprint. A lot of excitement was around dicamba as the next best thing that you could use, because you couldn’t use glyphosate or PPOs predominately across the southern U.S. We had very good results on weed control from last year.
I think the best thing from all this we learned last year was, the ability to communicate and talk to your neighbor. I would tell you that this was a concern in the fall of 2016, but we didn’t see that. I think the crop specialists and producers involved did a great job communicating what they were going to plant next to each other.
There was a lot of creativity – using the county plat map to identify sensitive areas and make sure the applicators knew where they were at, and various data management platforms to list sensitive and susceptible locations. Before they sprayed a field, they made sure a farmer planted that trait and that bean, so they avoided being in the wrong field or having the wrong trait being planted. This will be the focus in 2018 knowing that communication is still important.
On top of that, this year more beans are being planted with the trait than we saw last year. I don’t want to use that as an easy solution. You still have to worry about vegetable gardens, the vineyards, and fruit trees and other sensitive crops. Even though we’ll have more beans with the trait planted, those vineyards are still popping up and fruit trees will be out there, and so it is important to communicate where those areas are across the state today. Communication was a win from last year. GROWMARK and our FS members did a great job following the label: using the approved DRAs, approved nozzles, and tank mixtures. I’m confident we had very little non-compliance in our trade area.
CL: What about training over the winter – what changes and improvements did GROWMARK do?
We took the learnings in 2017 and really boiled it down to five key areas. We knew and completely supported the additional training required by registrants and EPA.
Roughly 1,500 of our applicators attended one of those events across our trade area. For a number of years we have established custom applicator training over the winter months so the cadence of accountability has been set. We focused on making sure the set venues would be conducive to receive the approval training and the steps to get certified according to the new requirements for 2018. We allowed plenty of time to do this training and provide the opportunity to answer questions and get our applicators comfortable with the new requirements.
As I looked at the required slide deck, I still felt we needed more attention on tank contamination, volatility in not only dicamba but all products, and know the situations that cause volatility in different products. I wanted more on buffer and border management: to know when to put a buffer and border in relation to a sensitive crop and wind direction. None of our applicators are weather forecasters. Putting the ownership on applicators to know when inversions exist is difficult if they don’t know what an inversion is. So, we brought in some experts in the area of inversions, and showed them what to look for and how to manage that. That was one of the better situations we had in terms of interaction between groups in our trade area.
The last learning area was around adjuvants: making sure they are approved, and that we are bringing them the best innovations we can in terms of DRAs, water conditioners, and surfactants. All this was done across 14 different GROWMARK-sponsored events across the Midwest. We had great attendance and great feedback from the group. Right now, we are taking the same approach as last year. We offered up a spray guide for applicators and crop specialists to utilize the technology; mix posters going into warehouses to make sure they have the approved tank mixtures; and window stickers with checklists.
One of the key highlights of what’s new this year is the FS Dicamba Minute. My big concern through the training we had in January, February, and March was, how can we make sure they are retaining that information? We are working with member companies to launch the FS Dicamba Minute. It’s a text message or email message going out to all applicators, crop managers, and plant managers to spend 60 to 90 seconds on one of those key learnings. On the back side is a one-question quiz. We’ve had 12 to 14 already going out to member companies and their employees. They focus on inversions, volatility, tank contamination, and border/buffer management.
CL: What other tools are they using to help them out – any apps?
One of the questions we have is, do we have confidence that they’re accurate before downloading on their iPhones and iPads to make sure they are giving a good indication of what’s going on? I used a couple here and there last year. I would say they give a good indication, but I still think each applicator has a better idea on the inversions, wind speeds and direction, and visibility of susceptible crops. If it doesn’t look good, then don’t spray it. If it doesn’t look good, then don’t spray it, and if we need to go to plan B herbicide option or wait – then let’s do that.
CL: So do you feel confident that this year will go more smoothly?
Based on our trade area, we’re going to have a good idea of how things are going by the time we get into our post-application season. That could change, too, if we get into a situation where we have early planted soybeans and we may not have the ability to see what’s going on in the Mid-South. I constantly think about what could go wrong, what’s happening across other states and/or crops, but more importantly, how can we effectively execute around the stewardship of the technology.
I think following up with the Dicamba Minute has been a great resource to verify what we talked about in the sessions. If we have a situation where we have a question that the majority of group has missed, then it’s on us at GROWMARK and our field staff to go back out and make sure that we revisit that session again. Our goal is to get FS Dicamba Minutes out before applications to allow us time to revisit a particular topic if we need to.
Do I feel prepared? I felt good last year going into it. But if you have more acres being planted, and the new requirements are spraying between 3 and 10 mph wind speeds. I was born and raised in Illinois, and there are not a lot of days the wind is blowing between 3 and 10 mph. If it is, it’s either first thing in the morning or late in the day. Now we realize that’s when most inversions are going to occur. On the acres this year, it may be a blend of burndown or early post treatments. Knowing those fields that have a lot of challenges could be a good recipient for a burndown application. We must not put a lot of pressure on any single active or, as we have learned over the years, herbicide-resistant weeds will develop. It’s good to know that we have a new herbicide to incorporate into a weed management program, but it’s going to take everyone’s effort to work together to make sure we continue to have a future with this technology.
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