Increased wheat plantings prompt Atlantis shortage concerns
Will there be enough Atlantis available for growers to use this autumn? According to some agronomists supplies already are or look likely to be tight, following increased wheat plantings.
But Atlantis manufacturer, Bayer CropScience, denied there would be any shortages, provided growers did not “panic buy” and hoard product for use in the spring.
Andrew Cotton, an agronomist based in Oxfordshire, was one concerned about supply. “It is a massive problem. Anyone ringing up today is finding it difficult to source from merchants. We’re being told the next lot available will be after Christmas.”
Part of the problem, according to some agronomists, was that Bayer delivered only part of the total Atlantis production in the autumn, with the balance going into distributor stores after Christmas. “It is a silly situation. It goes totally against what the firm says technically,” Steve Cook of Hampshire Arable Systems pointed out.
Bryce Rham, an independent consultant in Shropshire, agreed. “I find it bizarre the firm encourages us to use it early and then only supply 50-60% of the product before Christmas. Straight away it causes panic buying, and hey presto, you’ve got a shortage because people are stock-piling it for use pre- and post-Christmas.”
But a Bayer spokesman denied the firm’s strategy caused any problems. “The best time to use Atlantis is in the autumn, but history has shown us that some is used in the spring and the production plan reflects this.”
Atlantis availability:
|
Last autumn 28% of the total was used in the autumn, according to industry data. The trend was for a bigger proportion to be used year-on-year in the autumn, the spokesman said. He wouldn’t comment on what proportion Bayer was making available this autumn, but said the firm had made far more available than was likely to be used.
Deliveries into distributor stores had also been brought forward to try to dampen down speculation about shortages, he added. “By the beginning of next week all the product should be in stores, and that should ease some of the concerns.”
The season was also helping in that regard, Bob Mills, Frontier technical manager said. A combination of slow blackgrass growth, caused by less favourable weather conditions and high seed dormancy, and very effective pre-emergence treatments meant high autumn Atlantis use was less likely now (see panel), he explained.
“It is now a race between whether the blackgrass will be there before the conditions stop the use of Atlantis, and at the moment it looks likely the latter might win.”
A lower than anticipated autumn usage would probably prevent supplies becoming tight, he suggested.
Other herbicides, particularly flufenacet-based pre-emergence products, had also been in short supply this autumn, partly because of huge demand, according to agronomists. “We’ve sold 50-75% more pre-emergence products this autumn,” Hutchinson’s Dick Neale said.
Blackgrass emergence slow
All field-walkers were reporting very slow blackgrass emergence and growth, and good success with pre-emergence treatments. Pre-crop stale seed-beds had removed relatively little blackgrass with high dormancy slowing down emergence.
It meant there was little immediate urgency for spraying follow-up post-emergence herbicides, such as Atlantis, Mr Cook said. “What blackgrass is about is one-leaf, so it is still a little early.”
He suggested Atlantis applications would start from around mid-November. “Probably the minimum is to have the second leaf half there.”
Cold weather would eventually shut down applications, but there was a period of grace even after air temperatures fell, Mr Cook noted. “There is a bit of a lag after air temperatures fall for soil temperatures to drop and active growth stops. It is better to go into cold than coming out of it for that reason.”
But weed sizes weren’t currently big enough to be of much concern if applications were delayed until spring, he said.
Applying a residual pre-Christmas in that situation might not be a bad idea, ProCam’s Nick Myers suggested. “My aim, with possible resistance to Atlantis, is to try to use residuals and avoid Atlantis if possible. Some seed-beds aren’t good enough to be able to do that, but where they are, and there has been no major flush of blackgrass, I’d consider going through with a residual pre-Christmas, and avoid Atlantis if you possibly can.” |
Crops feature: How to get the best out of Atlantis this autumn – click here
