December 2020 - 13

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Achieving the right balance
David Booty, Technical Development Manager for
OMEX®
Agrifluids, continues last month's insight
into integrated crop and pest management.
Veterans of the crop protection industry
often regard the 1970s and the 1980s as its
heyday. In those days, with the availability
of countless active ingredients measured
in the hundreds, it seemed we had cures
for everything. We could use multiple
applications in endless combination, pushing
crops to new levels, delivering maximum
yields. And if pests and disease levels rose
on the back of all that lush green growth, we
had more 'medicine' on the shelf; after all,
this was the golden age of crop protection
research and development. Every year
brought a clutch of fresh new molecules and
every season we'd ratchet up the sprays and
applications to make the most of them.
Of course, we began to learn that this wasn't
sustainable. By waiting for a pest or disease
to appear before selecting an appropriate
treatment from the agrochemical armory, we
first came to rely on some of these products
and then began to flounder when we saw
fungicide-resistant strains of disease appear or
noticed a decline in the efficacy of insecticides.
While that was happening in the fields,
legislation and consumer awareness was also
shifting. Regulators tightened requirements
and expectations for agrochemicals,
shrinking the number of products available
and approving far fewer new molecules.
Those that did gain approval were becoming
more targeted, more specific: often acting on
a single process within a cell.
While this approach makes them considerably
more potent - we now apply products at rates
measured in ounces rather than pounds - it
also leaves less 'wriggle room' before resistance
develops to render the product less useful.
In addition, consumers now take a much
keener interest in food production. Buyers
and processors have introduced stricter
protocols, with provenance and traceability
becoming more important.
The net effect? Farmers can no longer rely
on a 'fix it' solution; instead, we must build a
better crop to begin with, removing the need
for prophylactic treatments and anticipating
problems before they arise, rather than
taking the 'fire-truck' approach of throwing
everything at it.
That's why integrated pest or crop
management (IPM or ICM) is gaining ground.
We're thinking about what the crop needs
at specific stages in its life - seeding,
transplantation, flowering, fruiting, rooting,
tuberization, ripening, bulking, maturing, you
name it - and then planning and selecting
the right product for that stage or just before
it. This way, we can pre-empt many of the
problems for which we would have previously
turned to our crop protection armory.
Product selection is at the heart of such a
strategy, especially as growers must now
observe strict protocols on use, timing and
recording of any crop inputs. Take brassicas,
for example. Not only do these have a
very well-defined sulfur requirement, they
are also susceptible to diseases - such
as powdery mildew - which can have a
detrimental effect on appearance. Given that
so much fresh produce is now graded on
visual quality alone, maintaining appearance
and meeting minimum requirements has
become a higher priority than all-out yield, so
there's no tolerance for any disease.
Tackling powdery mildew is a superb example
of how growers can practice IPM. Yes,
growers can find products that have a direct,
fungicidal effect on the disease itself; but,
through the correct selection, they can apply
a product that better prepares the plant to
deal with the disease in its own right.
OMEX®'s Sulphomex®, for instance, is fully
approved as a fungicide. But it's also a foliar
fertilizer: applied at the correct timing, it
allows the plant to stave off infections in the
first place.
A similar 'priming' effect is seen with
phosphites, which can give growers of
crops such as tomatoes and cucurbits a
critical edge in managing diseases caused
by oomycetes - Pythium and Phytopthora.
Phosphite triggers a natural mechanism
within the plant called 'systemic acquired
resistance' - very similar to the human
immune system. When triggered, the plant
releases proteins that can help the plant
either overcome the 'invader' - the fungal
spore - or minimize its harmful effects.
OMEX® has secured registration for
monopotassium phosphite - coformulated
with monopotassium phosphate as OMEX®
PhorcePhite®
- as a fungicide. But it's also
a biostimulant, as phosphite stimulates root
development. It's been embraced by growers
who need a product with effective fungicide
qualities, while offering zero-day harvest
interval and no worker restrictions after the
spray dries. Growers in hi-tunnel greenhouses
have found it especially valuable, as very few
disease suppressant products are approved
in these structures. It's also valuable at
transplantation, where it can help young
plants develop a stronger root.
Using these 'dual-purpose', multifunctional
products allows growers to use products in
different ways - different times, different
purposes - according to their needs. It's
what IPM is all about: assessing all the
factors, all the inputs and then making the
right decisions to balance them out, for the
best result.
Learn more at www.omexusa.com.
The product names and brands referenced
here are registered and trademarks of OMEX®
Agrifluids, Inc. © OMEX®
Agrifluids, Inc. 2020.
Call 559-661-6138
Visit www.omexusa.com
Email omexusa@omex.com
VGN | DECEMBER 2020 | 13
http://www.omexusa.com http://www.omexusa.com
December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2020
