“Globally, resistance has triggered a lot of thinking on what you can do and what you can change to improve opportunities,” says Dr. Marco Busch, Head of Weed Control Research, Bayer Crop Science.
She explains that her team is charged with the task of paying attention to all of the applicable technologies while staying focused on the near term but also keeping in mind the future. And with the 10-year timeframe for new product development and the rapid technology changes emerges, that challenge is growing more intense.
Using existing products with new application methods will lead to more changes. There are examples from the global market that are showing how new application methods and formulation considerations can evolve together.
“If you are spraying with a traditional sprayer, you use gravity to deliver the droplet. If you have a drone, it has that rotor wash to push the droplets into the canopy,” Johnson says. “We’ve gained experience with this in southeast Asia, where drone applications are becoming more common due to the size of the fields and challenging access to the areas for application.”
Some such technologies are already being used. In late 2017, FMC acquired DuPont’s PrecisionPAC system, which is a custom blend system for up to six active ingredients located at the retail location. The company has more than 400 machines in the market today, with a focus on products for the cereals market.
“Change is coming quickly, but I’m not saying there won’t be a place for large sprayers still in fields five years from now.” AG Professional.
