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Why are there very few new seed fungicides and
insecticides available for vegetable seeds? Pests are just as bad,
if not worse, than pests of agronomic crops. Yet, there seems to be
very few new seed treatments for vegetable crops. Why?
The answer is money.
It takes a tremendous amount of money to do all the
testing, and meet all the requirements of the federal government
that are needed to bring a new chemical to the market. Every crop
on the label needs to be tested separately, which multiplies the
cost to market. So which crops do you invest large amounts of money
to test and include on the label? You invest in the crops that have
the potential to give you the largest return for your dollar.
Guess what. You’ll sell a lot more seed treating
chemicals if you target corn or cotton, or soybeans rather than most
vegetable crops. In fact, it may cost more to put the vegetable
seed on the label than you will ever hope to get back in sales. So
chemicals for vegetable seeds, are not on the top of the “to be
developed” list in most chemical companies.
A new Era?
Maybe. With the advent of biotechnology and the
emphasis on developing genetically engineered crops that resist crop
pests without the use of chemicals on agronomic crops, chemical
manufacturers are looking for new places to market their products.
Seed treatments for vegetables are a market that could use some new
products.
So…how does a chemical company make money on
vegetable seed treatments? First of all, everyone has to win. The
chemical companies, the seed companies that apply most of the seed
treatment products, and the grower, all must come out ahead. The
bottom line reality for vegetable growers, is that new vegetable
seed treatments will cost you extra money, but in all cases, it has
to be a win, win situation. The added benefit of these new
chemicals to the grower, must be greater than the cost to put it
on.
What chemicals are coming?
 Syngenta
Crop Protection has developed a system to introduce new seed
treatments to the vegetable industry. They call this system the
FarMore Technology Pak.
 Bayer
Crop Science is also in the process of introducing a similar
concept.
It’s more than
new chemicals. Instead of charging seed companies for a bottle of
the chemical, they are charging the seed company only for the seed
they treat. Pay as you go; charged by the 1000 seeds; at higher
cost. This cost is then passed to the grower per 1000 seeds.
Syngenta has actually re-introduced some older chemicals under the
FarMore Pak name with the thought that as new chemicals are
introduced, they will be added to the chemical combination.
Currently the
base mix for the
FarMore Technology Pak is Mefonoxam (Apron XL) a systemic
targeting pythium and phytophthora, and Fludioxonil (Maxim) a
contact fungicide targeting mostly rhizoctonia and fusarium. The
addition of another older chemical being used in a new way, is
Abamectin (Avicta), which is targeting early control of nematodes on
cucurbits and tomatoes. Next to be added is a new chemical called
Azoxystrobin which is a systemic fungicide targeting rhizoctonia on
carrots, onions, tomatoes, cucurbits and leafy vegetables and
botrytis control on onion, and alternaria control on carrot. Later
a chemical called Thiamethoxam may be added to the PAK to control
insects on pickling cucumbers first, and then other small seeded
vegetables down the road.
Bayer Crop Science is
also looking at implementing a similar system in the future. They
plan to bring out a chemical called Trilex (trifloxystrobin)
targeting rhizoctonia and fusarium on sweet corn, and Topsin on
sweet corn for fusarium and penicillium. Also, a treatment called
GB34 for all vegetables. GB34 is a bacterial seed treatment that
can activate a plants natural defense mechanisms when disease
causing organisms attack.
A totally new
concept, that is the subject of our next SeedTech Newsletter
entitled “Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) in Plants Induced by
Seed Treatments”, so we’ll continue next time. Hope to see you
then.
Keith
k.kubik@harrismoran.com |
