CropLife Retail Week: Corteva and BASF Introduce New Products, Port Updates, and Tech Hub LIVE Details
Eric Sfiligoj and Lara Sowinski talk about new products from Corteva and BASF, port news, and the upcoming Tech Hub LIVE show in Des Moines, IA.
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*This is an edited and partial transcript.
Eric Sfiligoj: Hello. Welcome to another edition of CropLife Retail Week. I’m Eric Sfiligoj, Editor for CropLife and I’m joined here with a remote Lara Sowinski And I’m sure the folks who know Lara is lives in El Paso, Texas. And I guess the hat would be the dead giveaway if they didn’t know that. But Laura, good to see you again.
Lara Sowinksi: Yeah, I just caught myself in the little camera. It looks like the hat’s taking up the whole thing. And and I was thinking that you might think that. Oh, you know, she’s putting on this hat. And, you know, the truth is, I actually live like this more days than not.
ES: I was Indianapolis, Indiana, visiting with our friends at Corteva and my, my thanks to everyone there. We had a wonderful time, myself and our sales rep, Addie Schaefer, and we talked to several people. But the one thing we did find out about is, a little while back, Corteva introduced a new product Resicore REV.
And now here is Nick Burke from Corteva talking about Resicore REV is going to be a good thing for growers to consider using in the future.
Nick Burke: This past week we just announced Resicore REV as a new formulation that we’re going to have in in the marketplace and why we’re excited to bring this product into the marketplace today. And so it’s going to bring some features and benefits that we see as value, for those growers and retailers out there today, that first one being a superior weed control program. So when we talk about superior weed control, we’re looking at having three active ingredients.
And why we call this a really good superior weed control is it’s going to provide eight weeks of residual activity. So with those benefits that we have there today, we find that is a really proven product, a proven mix that we’ve got in the marketplace that has proven itself in kind of what we consider the gold standard.
ES: So that’s what Nick Burke had to say about the weed control aspects of Resicore REV. As he said, 75 broad leave weeds and grass is that can be controlled using this in fields. And he mentioned the encapsulation of a seed core, which, is one of the three active ingredients in the product.
And Nick was talking in this next clip about how Resicore REV works well with other chemistries in the tank.
NB: Another benefit that we’re, we see with Resicore REV is that improved or tank mix compatibility. So when we talk tank mix compatibility, we’re looking at improvements here such as micronutrients and some of those that you more commonly would see today than what growers or retailers are excited about.
And another featured benefit that we will have is that flexibility. So what what do we mean by flexibility is that it means that we can fit a wide variety of programs out there for growers and farmers, such as, you know, premix a pre- or even a post emergence up to 24 inch tall. The other piece also comes in with when I talk about flexibility, is that it’s not only for traited corn, it’s for conventional corn as well.
ES: So that’s what our friend Nick Burke had to say about Resicore REV. And for the growers and ag retailers looking to get it into their warehouses and on their fields, it’ll be available for the 2025 growing season. So come this fall, look for that product to be available to our market.
So I’m happy to report that I went down to Raleigh, North Carolina, and visited with our friends at BASF, and they had some very big news to share. They are introducing to the marketplace a new soybean cyst nematode control measure. This is called Nemasphere, and the company claims it’s the first and only biologic biotechnology trait for soybean cyst nematode control, which they say is the number one yield robbing pest in soybean fields in the United States. And some of the statistics they threw out, growers on average lose about $1.5 billion a year in yield because of soybean cyst nematode.
It affects about 200,000 farmers across the country. And I know that one of the researchers said they were doing some soil tests of around various fields in the Midwest, and they found that, soybean cyst nematode was present about 90% of the time in the soil. So, you know, so that’s the good news that we’ve got this new trait.
It works basically in the plant. It’s a CRI protein that they’ve added to the soybean plants. And they’re going to be stacking it with Corteva Enlist E3 as they bring it to market.
So eventually the pest dies from starvation. That’s the good news. The bad news is, is, of course, this is a biotechnology trait. in a plant. So unfortunately, BASF is expecting a pretty long approval process before it comes to market. They’re anticipating it won’t get approval until 2028, four years from now, for growers, soybean growers in 2029’s growing season, they should have the Nemasphere trait to use in their fields.
I guess speaking of hope on the horizon, you have a couple of tidbits to share as well. So if you could take it away.
LS: USDA released its first assessment of the season, and the summary is that corn and soybean crops are in good or excellent health. According to this assessment, this was in line with trade expectations and is above the ten year average. For soy, which, they pegged at 72% of U.S. soybeans being in good health.
So this is above the ten year average, for initial soy ratings, which is at 68%. So soy ratings came in a week after initial U.S corn conditions, which landed at 75%, rated as good to excellent, well above the trade estimate of 70%, and the ten year average of 71%. So, good news on both fronts for corn and soybean.
But certainly good news from the USDA. regarding soybean and corn. A little update on the longshoremen negotiations. I mentioned that I think a week or two ago, the International Longshoremen’s Association, which covers unionized workers on East Coast and Gulf Coast ports. And, that contract is set to expire on September 30th.
And while initial reports looked like things were going to hopefully go smoothly with regards to negotiations, there was a little stumble this week, if you will. Similar to the longshoremen on the West Coast, automation at ports is a real contentious topic between waterfront employers and longshoremen. And likewise, there was an automated tool for clearing trucks at the port of Mobile, Alabama that started the kerfuffle.
Hopefully things can get smoothed out, so that we avoid any type of work slowdown or strike. So that’s the update.
Good news though, this week, the commercial shipping through the Port of Baltimore is back in full swing. The channel has been cleared. Officials expect the volume will be back to normal, by mid-July. And as we’ve reported before, the port of Baltimore is a very important port, key gateway for farm equipment and as well as, autos.
And then, if I may, Eric, let me just, say, again, we’re are, as of Saturday the 15th, we will be 43 days out from Tech Hub Live. And, this year, like prior years, we have our CropLife Awards of Excellence, which are part of the Global Ag Tech Initiative here at Meister Media. And, we, have a blast. I know you and me being on the stage handing these awards out and hearing from the recipients. We have notified the winners in each of the four categories.
Awards of Excellence covers the Educator/Researcher of the Year, Legacy Award, Precision crop advisor and entrepreneur, and lastly, the Precision Farmer of the year. So those were the categories. The winners have been notified. We’ll keep it under our hat. Of course. for the time you have the head for it. Definitely. I have the hat for all for fitting.