Three products seek approval
American giant plans to push weed-killers in UK
By Andrew Blake
HERBICIDES from US-based FMC look set to make the companys name more familiar to UK growers over the next few years.
Novel broad-leaved weed-killers with particularly good cleavers activity, some already available here, and a new potato desiccant, have encouraged the firm to begin selling directly to distributors.
Best known to UK growers for its pea viners, the Philadelphia firm claims to be the worlds 12th largest agricultural products group with annual sales of over $600m. Its most familiar active ingredients, carfentrazone-ethyl (as in cereal products Affinity, Platform S and Lexus Class) and carbosulfan (as in Marshall sugar beet insecticide), have so far been sold through other manufacturers – in these cases Du Pont and Rhone-Poulenc.
FMC is strong in insecticides with 7% of the world market and the number one insecticide in the US, says north Europe commercial manager Nabil Idris.
"We believe the time is right to start a direct UK operation because we have some exciting new herbicides." Growers should gain through better margins allowing a more flexible approach to pricing, he says.
Details of the changes have yet to be finalised. "We are talking to all distributors, big and small," stresses Mr Idris.
Under the new arrangements FMC will take over responsibility for marketing Affinity, Platform S and Marshall.
But Du Pont will continue to market any sulfonylurea/carfentrazone products such as Lexus Class, notes Mr Idris. Fury (zeta-cypermethrin) and Talstar (bifenthrin) insecticides will also remain in the hands of PBI and Hortichem.
Hybrid wheat likes challenge
DISCARD ideas that hybrid wheat merits the best land, advises Nickerson Seeds which believes Cockpit, first fruit of its second stab at hybrids, offers a real edge over conventional varieties in non-first wheat slots on poorer soils.
The potential breadmaker, a cross between two parents ill adapted to the UK, displays all the vigour expected of a hybrid. But its main target is growers who already know how to grow quality wheats, says breeder Bill Angus.
Attempts in the 1970s to introduce hybrids were thwarted partly because the goals were feed types intended to extract top output from fertile land as first wheats.
The new variety has valuable features; but correct husbandry following detailed guidelines will be needed to make the most of them.
Cockpit will be considered for recommendation this autumn. Nickerson claims a treated yield consistently 10% above Hereward, breadmaking quality rated 7, and top Rendezvous-style eyespot resistance. Good ear blight and take-all defences are added bonuses.
The only Achilles heel, yellow rust, is not a concern provided growers are not over-reliant on strobilurin fungicides, says Mr Angus. Overall the newcomer is as resistant to the range of NIAB-scored diseases as Hereward.
Already there is good demand for the 10,000ha (25,000 acres) worth of seed, which at the recommended sowing rate of 175 seeds/sq m, costs £91/ha (£37/acre). That is slightly less than in France where one estimate suggests over 100,000ha (250,000 acres) of hybrid wheat could be drilled this autumn. Seed dressing, to counter yellow rust, has yet to be finalised.
Andrew Richards of Masstock Arable has tested Cockpit for two seasons and says seed rate, nitrogen, fungicides and growth regulators all merit fresh attention if results already seen are to be repeated. These included a 16% second wheat yield advantage over Consort last year on a site with severe take-all.
Economically, Cockpit needs a 10% premium to compete with the likes of first wheat Savannah or Group 2 Rialto, but as a second wheat it appears to offer significant benefits at no premium, says Mr Richards. "But remember not all hybrids may have this level of eyespot resistance." *
Three products seek approval
A NEW "green" potato desiccant is one of three FMC candidates for UK approval over the next two years.
The carfentrazone product was launched as Spotlight in Belgium in 1998 as an alternative to sulphuric acid, Reglone (diquat) and Harvest (glufosinate). And with Benelux supermarkets increasingly demanding crops treated only with pesticides listed as having better toxicological profiles, it took 30% of the market, says FMCs Benoit Genot.
"Unlike the cereals products it is a more aggressive formulation," says technical services manager Simon Leak.
Clomazone, a new low dose active already sold widely in Europe under various names, is a residual mixer especially effective against cleavers in potatoes, peas, beans and carrots. A co-formulation with metazachlor, marketed by BASF, is said to have taken nearly half the market in some member states. Clomazone also deals with fools parsley, a growing problem in some places, notes Mr Leak.
The third product in the FMC pipeline is similar to Platform S (carfentrazone + mecoprop-p) but with an enhanced amount of mecoprop to help prevent cleavers regrowth. *
Hybrid hopes are high… This year about 450 crosses, mostly of varieties with good yellow rust resistance, are being produced in Nickerson trials.