DENHOLM, Sask. – This is where the battle for the hearts and minds of the farmer is fought: in small, orderly plots that flaunt their attributes in busy areas of the rural prairie.
Trevor Mandziak, a representative for chemical manufacturer BASF, looks out over the knife-edged crop plots that stretch over acres of a test site beside the Yellowhead highway and feels good about what he sees.
In front of him are plots that he thinks show BASF’s new Accord herbicide for wheat works as well as its competition, plots that show how well his company’s chemicals tank mix with others, plots that highlight weed weaknesses of competitors’ products, and plots that show conventional herbicide mixes on conventional seed breeds can work as well on new transgenic crops.
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Visitors lacking
But there is no farmer in sight.
It’s harvest time and Mandziak doesn’t expect a lot of farmers and others to be touring the plot. He admits the toughest part of running a successful test plot is getting people to come out to see it.
“It’s taking us some time to be known as a company that provides this type of information and support,” said Mandziak, pointing out other chemical companies such as AgrEvo, Monsanto, Novartis and Dow Elanco have run test plots for years.
BASF began building them only three years ago, Mandziak said.
The plots are designed to show chemical dealers, agrologists and farmers how effective various chemicals are, he said.
At this site, chemicals such as Accord and Poast, produced by his company, are matched up against competitors.
In spring, the soil is sown with seed, fertilizer and weed seeds, to simulate normal conditions. At the proper times, the crops are sprayed with various chemicals.
Mandziak stoops over the crops and seizes weeds from the patches. Today he’s interested in green foxtail, which is supposed to be killed by Accord. He finds a few healthy ones in the Accord-treated acres, but a fair number in a competitor’s plot.
Throughout the plots, his company’s products come out as well or better than their competitors; a result either impressive or contrived.
Mandziak insists it’s the former.
“If we do have a failure, we don’t mow down the site,” said Mandziak. “We want to be credible.”
But he said he didn’t always trust the competition’s plots, which often don’t contain competitive products’ plots or full-size check strips.
Mandziak said he sometimes tours other companies’ plots to see how their products are presented, what new products they’re bringing to market and what new ideas he can take back to his own plots.
While his company is new in the field test plot game, Mandziak said he thinks it is worth sticking with.
“We’re just trying to increase our presence in the field.”
