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This is proving to be a difficult spring in so many ways. The legacy of the bad autumn continues and there is a lot of work remaining to be done on most farms which is being continuously delayed by broken wet weather. But the weather is not our only problem.
The world keeps on changing and the ground rules keep evolving. The direction of future crop protection is becoming clearer in the fog of evolving legislation and the pressures of social accountability. A new order has arrived and it would not appear to be favourable for crop producers in this country.
We will continue to lose actives from the marketplace. Some of these will be very important and have delivered years of useful service. Some may even be critical for the control of specific problems in the disease, weed and pest arena. New actives will arrive but one will still be very concerned about the potential longevity of these in the market without the presence of other functioning actives to help protect them.
Resistance
Resistance continues to develop. This is little more than nature’s way of ensuring its own survival but it may make crop protection very difficult. We must remember that it is the size of this challenge and the frequency with which we have been using families of chemistry that ultimately drives the arrival of resistance. So to give our new actives any chance in the future we will need to be more proactive in decreasing the intensity of the problem we are asking our agchem products to control.
Resistance to SDHI chemistry is now with us. It may or may not be significant for field control of septoria or ramularia in 2018 but it will be in the very near future. It will be a few more years before we get new actives that will make a difference in wheat but at least they are coming. Our challenge will be to learn to farm in a much more sustainable way to reduce our dependence on chemical inputs through having a more coherent policy on farm management.
We are also finding more evidence of resistance problems in weeds and pests. Research confirmed during the year that we now have metabolic resistance to pyrethroid insecticides in some populations of grain aphid which also carry partial or knockdown resistance to the same insecticide family. And for some combination of reasons we seem to be experiencing increasing pressures from BYDV in recent years, which adds to these problems.
Grassweeds
Grassweed resistance appears to be marching on also. While the very comprehensive study conducted by Teagasc was not available at the time of going to press, the indications presented by limited data from Ronan Byrne of Teagasc would indicate that we do have a problem and that it may be quite significant in parts of the country.
Thankfully, we can add some good news to the mix also. There are a few new actives and products in the pipeline that should help to resolve some of these problems in future years. There are indications of new fungicides, herbicides and insecticides coming down the track but we must wonder what the impact of Brexit will be on their registration for the market here.
We also see active research taking place on so many aspects of oat and bean husbandry. These are important crops for many farmers and it would be good to be able to move away from borrowed husbandry advice to active advice for these crops.
The challenges get more numerous and bigger
Oat diseases and their control
New and upcoming products to the market
Fungicide resistance continues to impact
Eying up eyespot in winter wheat
Adding science to product application timing
Herbicide resistance in grass weeds in Ireland
Changes continue in the crop protection world
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