Crop Protection Benefit Article of the Week:

October 28th 2009

Whew, bit of a hiatus since our last blog post. We've been involved in a couple projects recently that have been taking up quite a bit of Foundation time. One of them went live last week, take a look:

Crop News Network

It's a microsite we made in conjunction with CropLife International that we hope raises some questions about the future of agriculture. Namely, how are we going to feed a growing world while taking care of the environment around us? Take a look at the site, and especially make sure to check out the send a video page here! Its a fun, creative way to let your friends know about the path ahead and how they can help!

With that project completed we now have returned for your weekly benefit article of the week feature. In light of our return this week's article will be one I have been eager to use for a bit. It look at a fungus that some have said is a "time bomb for world wheat crop" that threatens to eliminate the world's most plentiful crop. Organizations estimate the nearly 20% of the world's wheat crop right now is in imminent danger of a new strain of wheat rust, Ug99. With each passing year this risk rises exponentially. If it hits U.S. soil it will devastate U.S. agriculture to the tune of 10 billion dollars.

Discovered in 1999 in Uganda (hence the name Ug99) this strain of wheat rust has been rapidly spreading. In only 10 short years it has spread to the corners of Africa and recently made the jump across continents to the Middle East where it has been spotted in Iran. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN believes that in this time the disease has only grown stronger.

So what are we to do? Multi-nationals and universities are frantically working to create new hybrid crops bred with resistantance to this new strain or a natural treatment for the fungus. But this is a labor intensive and time consuming practice. GMOs are also an option if they can be developed soon (a big if!) but many countries are resistant to these. So the question is, what do we do in the meantime?? How can we ensure that these farmers are not losing upwards of HALF their crop each year while the rest of the world searches for solutions?

Dr. Waynera, Dr. Kilonzo, and Dr. Kamundia of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute have been working on just that problem. From 2005 to 2006 they conducted experiments with nine commercial fungicides to boost yields and reduce incidence of Ug99, and their results have been astouding...

In their control plots (the plots that were left untreated) the incidence of Ug99 ranged from approximately 30% to 80%, causing yield loss of 32 to 57%. However, when testing the yields after fungicide use what did they find?

2005 grain yield boost in treated vs. untreated fields: 55.5%

2006 grain yield boost in treated vs. untreated fields: 31.4%

What is great about this article is the numbers speak for themselves. After years of the world dithering about trying to find some new, universal solution to this problem these scientists looked at what we can do NOW. This is not the final answer but their numbers show this will be a huge boost to farmers in the meantime. Increased yields of 31%-55% will be the difference between eating and starving for many sub-saharan African farmers. In this story, we are not talking about farmers just losing money here.

This shows that these crop protection products can save lives.

[Comments]

[Foliar Fungicides to Control Wheat Steam Rust] - unfortunately only an abstract but those of you with university affiliations can easily find it through your library

October 9th 2009

So here at the Foundation we sift through quite a few articles every week as we look for the newest Benefit Article of the Week. However I have to say ones like this week's are my absolute favorite. These are the stories that highlight farmers who begin using crop protection products on their farm and are AMAZED at how well they are able to protect against insects, weeds, fungi, etc. It gives us conviction in what our mission here is, which is to inform people about the benefits of these products and why they are important for farmers to use! Each one of these farmers who comes the the realization when they see it with their own eyes is one more convert.

So this week's article is right in that vein. It is from Sunflower Magazine (a great publication for any ag people out there!) and looks at, obviously, a farmer who began using crop protection products with great success!

Paul Ivesdal has been a sunflower producer for years and years however he has always had problems with one "dirty 10-letter word"....marshelder.

This broadleaf is a terrible problem for sunflower growers and has proven to be an extremely tough weed to control for many growers. In the past there was very limited ways in which to control it (primary ways included timing your sunflowers to grow just at the right time to 'shade out' the broadleaf...not the most scientific of methods). Luckily recently the herbicide Express in conjunction with an ExpressSun variety of sunflower plant has had great success. Ivesdal was one of the farmers who heard of this success and after years of struggling with the weed devastating his yields, in 2007 he used this brand new ag tech with great results...

The difference was, in his term, "unbelievable"..."I would not have had any yield in that field if I hadn't sprayed Express," Ivesdal states. He adds that on one field edge where he was a little late in turning on his spray boom, the ground was overcome by marshelder to the point where the sunflower rows were not even visible"

This control method has shown so much success that in just one year one crop consultant, Mike Hutter, reported an over 150% increase in orders for the ExpressSun seed and Express control. And why did orders jump so much?

"Weed control is the driving motivation, Hutter affirms,"

As I said before we love articles here that show farmers realizing what great benefits these products can offer them! One year they do not use an herbicide, they struggle with weed infestations. The next year, the use a new herbicide and the infestation is gone!

We truly do believe the average farmer is a smart, hardworking American and when they see the great results farmers quickly realize what a great role crop protection products can have within their livelihood.

[Comments]

[ExpressSun Option Pays for N.D. Growers in 2007]

Note: We are CLF do not endorse the use of Express over any other products. We merely use Express as a demonstration of overall effectiveness of crop protection products.