Herbicide choice illusion

There seems to be a bewildering array of new herbicides on the market, but looks are deceiving. Provincial weed control specialist Clark Brenzil points out that there are only two new active ingredients on the market this year. One of those is Heat from BASF. All the other new product names are just repackaged chemistry – the same product by a different name. For instance, there are 22 products containing only glyphosate and five others that include glyphosate as an active. Overall, Brenzil says there are 272 product choices, but only 60 active ingredients. If you narrow it down to herbicides for cereals, pulses and oilseeds, there are only 45 active ingredients. Cereals have 30 actives, oilseeds have 16 and pulses have 18. This adds up to more than the 45 total because some of them can be used on more than one crop group. Brenzil also addresses the rumor that Liberty will be in short supply. Since Liberty is used only on Liberty Link canola and since there are no competing products and since Bayer CropScience knows exactly how much its canola seed has been purchased, the company can manage the supply of Liberty with a great deal of accuracy. No shortages are anticipated. I’m Kevin Hursh.