By Brian Hefty

In Europe, I’ve been told that in the last 10 years roughly 90% of all ag chemicals have been banned. I’ve also been told by some of the largest manufacturers of pesticides that the goal in Europe is to ban all pesticides as quickly as possible. Therefore, these companies are scrambling for alternatives. Their profits are at stake, but so is the future of crop production. Without products to control harmful weeds, insects, and diseases, yields will plummet, crop prices will explode, and starvation levels across the world will increase.

The alternative to synthetic chemistry is what we call Naturals. In other words, if you can find something that already exists in nature and apply that to crops, it’s a home run. Keep in mind, many of the largest companies in the world are based in Europe (BASF, Bayer, Syngenta, etc.). Why do you think they have invested billions of dollars in biological companies and biological research in the last 10 years? There is a lot of science behind this whole thing today, so while snake oil still exists, there are some good products that will provide yield gains and ROI when used in the right places at the right times.

Unfortunately, there haven’t been many bio-herbicides, bio-insecticides, or bio-fungicides discovered as of today, but there have been a number of products developed in what we call the bio-stimulant family. For example, think about inoculants for legume crops. This is proven technology where live bacteria placed on or near seed are able to turn atmospheric nitrogen into a form the plant can use.

When anything that is alive is going to be used in crops, the key is to obviously keep that thing alive until it can do the crop some good. For example, let’s say you want to try a foliar biological product. You mix the product in water, but the question is, how long does your biological product remain alive? If you have chlorinated water (think about any municipal or rural water source other than a well), your biological product will likely die in minutes. Chlorine is added to water to kill microbes, so there is no chance your biological product will survive. Somewhat similar, though not as lethal, is when water is extremely acidic or very high in pH or when water contains excessive levels of copper, iron, magnesium, or calcium.

Because of all these water issues, it is important to A) test your water and B) treat your water if you have problems. For a few cents per acre, you can use Bio-Prep to turn chlorine into chloride so it doesn’t harm biologicals. For a few more cents per acre, you can add Water-Rite to neutralize copper, iron, magnesium, and calcium. Plus, Water-Rite will drop the pH down to the 5.5 to 6.0 pH level that is often better for biologicals and most ag chemicals.

HEFTY NATURALS BRAND MANAGER:
MATT THOMPSON
matt.thompson@heftyseed.com
217-414-8146