INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Dow Agro-Sciences has developed a new mode of action for broadleaf weed control that is expected to result in dozens of products for cereal growers in the next few years.
“We’re pretty excited about it because it appears to be a really good complement to our current active ingredient portfolio,” said Kelly Bennett, portfolio manager for Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc.
He said about a dozen broadleaf weed active ingredients are on the market, four of which were released in the last 10 years.
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The most recent contribution, a non-ALS, broad-spectrum active ingredient, has demonstrated significant performance in field trials, he added.
The timing of its commercial launch depends on when the company finishes validating it, testing for crop tolerance, rotational crop limits and how it can be best used with Dow’s existing active ingredients.
“We’re hoping for around 2014,” Bennett said in an interview following his presentation to Canadian media touring Dow’s headquarters in Indianapolis.
The new active ingredient will fill gaps in the company’s broadleaf weed control products.
For instance, Dow doesn’t have an active ingredient on the market that controls lamb’s quarters so farmers have to mix existing products with 2,4-D or MCPA.
That could pose a problem because 2,4-D has been under intense scrutiny and may not be available down the road.
The new active ingredient would solve that problem and provide protection against up-and-coming weed threats such as white cockle, narrow-leaf hawksbeard, American dragon-head and night-flowering catchfly.
Bennett said 40 to 50 broadleaf weeds grow in Western Canada and new ones appear every year.
Dow said it is also committed to developing a new mode of action for grassy weed control, especially for wild oats. It is one of the top sxthree goals for the company’s discovery department.
The only products now on the market are in Groups 1 and 2, which are susceptible to weed resistance. Farmers are particularly wrestling with significant Group 2 resistance problems.
Bennett said producers need a new group for grassy weed control or products for an existing group that doesn’t control grassy weeds.
“A Group 4 that controlled grass weeds would be fantastic because we know they don’t develop resistance readily, so it would be tremendous.”
It typically requires nine or 10 years and about $256 million US to take an agriculture chemical product from discovery through commercial launch. The time line could be cut in half if Dow scientists quickly find what they’re looking for.
In the meantime, Bennett encouraged growers to make sure they continually rotate herbicide groups or use multiple modes of action to stave off further weed resistance.
New research indicates multiple modes of action are probably the better way to go.
However, growers have only two groups to choose from when controlling grassy weeds in addition to glyphosate, so their options are limited.
Bennett said growers tend to think of weed control products as an expense while seeds are associated with profit.
Dow AgroSciences is adding fungicides to its product line:
•It is developing two modes of action to control septoria, both curative and protective
•The commercial launch of these products is expected after 2014
