Protecting Crop Protection Chemistries

Expert chemists create specific formulations to preserve the efficacy of the herbicide technologies for the long run, explains Pete Eure, herbicide technical product lead with Syngenta. That expertise is a significant, but sometimes overlooked, benefit of choosing a premix over tank-mixing individual active ingredients (AIs). While AIs may be the power behind a product, they must be chemically formulated to function on the farm. This is especially important in premix products where formulation chemists must consider and test how AIs interact with each other and other compounds in a product. Product formulations need to retain stability through real-farm scenarios like temperature shifts and being put through sprayers for application. Farmers need products that are as stable and effective in the field as they are in the lab. Expert formulation chemists are the ones making that happen.

“Our herbicide premixes enable growers to reduce the likelihood of resistance development,” says Eure.

Syngenta designs premixes to protect existing chemistries. Robust use rates reduce the occurrence of weed escapes and the proliferation of resistant seed. Premixes developed with full use rates deliver better performance, greater consistency and prolonged efficacy of herbicide chemistries.

“We’re making it simple for a grower to use multiple effective sites of action in their crop system,” Eure says.

Of course, farmers need broad-spectrum management options today, Eure notes, but they also need to preserve the tools available to ensure profitability in the future.

Cover image: Members of the Syngenta formulation team work in the lab to make sure the products delivered to growers remain stable through real-farm scenarios such as temperature shifts and sprayer applications. From left to right: Andrew Pearson, Matthew Cottle, Adam Voisard, Katie Oshige, Felisha Vestal and Xinyun Wen. Photography by Alex Maness.