“ARE WE GOING TO BE ABLE TO GET ANY CHEMICALS THIS SPRING FOR OUR CROPS?”
That was the question a North Dakota farmer asked me the other day. Here was my response: “Oh, yeah. We should have an ample supply of everything. A lot of what you are hearing right now is just panic and price-gouging. Don’t worry.”
Personally, I think we will have lots of glyphosate and glufosinate by the time it’s all said and done because the price is now so high that I believe most farmers will cut rates or completely switch away from those herbicides. If you want to know what to switch to, read my article, “How to Replace Roundup & Liberty”, found on page 20 of this edition of “Agronomy. Answers. Yield.”
Here is what I know right now on some other product categories and specific chemistries.
■ 2,4-D – Let’s look at the bright side. 2,4-D is roughly three times higher in price than last year, so hopefully, you will move away from this old chemistry. Freelexx is barely up over last year, and it has almost no volatility compared to the terrible volatility of old 2,4-D. In wheat and many other crops, we have much better, safer alternatives for weed control than 2,4-D. I’m saying, yes, you’ll spend a little more than you did a year ago to control weeds, but you should also get better weed control, greater crop safety, and higher yields.
■ Fungicides – Supply looks good, and we already have a lot of products on hand that you can pick up today.
■ Group 15’s – Harness, Surpass, Outlook, Dual, Zidua, and the premixes containing these active ingredients are all in good supply on the name-brand side, and we have a lot on hand. However, the generic versions of Dual are really high-priced and in tight supply. Our suggestion is to skip the generic and go with a name-brand product this year.
■ 3 Pre’s – In soybeans, we strongly encourage you to make a pre-plant application of a yellow (Trifluralin or Prowl) plus metribuzin plus either Valor or Authority. The total price for the 3 Pre’s is up only slightly over last year, and we do have products on hand already.
■ Mesotrione and Status – The two most popular products for post-emerge use in corn are available today and up just a little bit in price over last year. However, atrazine is roughly double the price from last year. Fortunately, that means only an extra $1 an acre for a very low use rate.
■ Huskie and post-emerge wheat herbicides – Huskie was tight in supply in 2021, and we don’t expect that to change in 2022. Fortunately, many of our Huskie users are switching to Huskie Fx (Huskie plus the active ingredient from Starane), Huskie Complete (Huskie plus Varro), or WideARmatch (WideMatch plus the excellent 2,4-D-replacement product Elevore). We don’t expect many supply issues with the majority of wheat herbicides, and prices are not up a whole lot versus last year.
■ Generics – While it appears the supply on most name-brand products is good and price increases for most were fairly moderate, the same cannot be said for almost any generic product we carry. As a general statement, supplies have been poor and price increases have been substantial when it comes to generic options, so just make sure you consider the name-brand products and factor in any rebates, financing offers, etc. before you make your final purchase decisions this winter or next spring.