Pesticide firm adopts closed transfer system for beet herbicides
© GNP Crop protection manufacturer UPL is set to supply its straight sugar beet herbicide product range in cans that are compatible with the Easyconnect closed transfer sprayer filling system.
Most sprayers are filled by operators pouring the concentrated product into an induction bowl.
However, a closed transfer system, such as the Easyconnect, means filling can be carried out without any potential operator exposure to the concentrated product.
But uptake has been limited.
See also: Sprayer closed transfer system starts UK rollout
One hurdle for its adoption is the lack of compatible cans, which is starting to change with UPL making it available for its sugar beet straights metamitron, phenmedipham and ethofumesate.
“UPL has decided to embrace Easyconnect,” explains James Kennedy, head of business development for UPL UK.
“The investment is being put into our European factories to enable this.
“In the UK, we wanted to begin with sugar beet herbicides because having the factory on our doorstep helps us to co-ordinate the rollout closely.”
UPL’s Sandbach manufacturing site, near Crewe, produces all its sugar beet herbicides for Europe.
In addition to the straight products, the firm plans to introduce closed transfer system compatibility for co-formulated products such as Volcano (ethofumesate + metamitron) as soon as possible.
Farmer investment push
He believes the move is a step towards encouraging farmers to adopt Easyconnect more widely, with many farmers reluctant to invest in a system when few pesticides are available in compatible cans.
“It is a chicken and egg scenario. Farmers won’t embrace the sprayer adaptation without the products, and manufacturers might not produce the products for Easyconnect if few sprayers are equipped,” says James.
“We’ve decided to just go for it. The more products we can push out with Easyconnect caps on, the more farmers will decide to invest in the technology.”
Farmers are reminded that this season there will be existing stock in circulation which is not compatible.
All new production will be compatible, however, and the boxes will have Easyconnect branded tape on so that they are easy to identify.
Three advantages of using Easyconnect
UPL’s James Kennedy sees three key advantages for farmers in using Easyconnect:
- Reduces operator exposure to pesticides by about 95%
- Greatly reduced risk of environmental contamination when filling a sprayer
- Much more time efficient.
“We know sprayers are getting bigger and spray windows are reducing due to the weather. The less time spent filling up means more time spraying,” he says.
“This is another reason we chose sugar beet herbicides to begin our Easyconnect rollout.
“They are applied at a time of year when sprayer capacity is most stretched, and tank mixes can be quite large, which takes much longer without a CTS.”