All current and new agrochemicals from DuPont are to be distributed in the Irish market by Terrachem. The change in the distribution arrangements begins from 1 January 2017 and applies across all of Ireland.

Gary Beirne of Terrachem explained that in more recent years DuPont products were distributed by agents who were former employees of Interchem Ltd.

These same individuals formed Terrachem to distribute other products which were not from DuPont.

At the announcement of the new arrangement, DuPont’s country manager for the UK and Ireland, Robert Bird, confirmed that the company would continue to sell its existing product range through Terrachem and also develop and launch new products in the future.

DuPont has recently agreed to merge with Dow AgroSciences and Bird said that it will be at least a few years before this will have any impact at ground level, assuming the merger is approved in the EU and the US.

Bird reported that the company has a number of new actives in development across different market segments. He said that changes to the regulatory system in the EU have significantly increased the costs associated with new product development. Development of a new active cost roughly $152m back in 1995 – last year that cost was put at $300m.

The fact that most of the major companies are now talking about new actives and new chemical families is really welcome news for producers facing so many challenges with resistance.

That said, the high development cost is likely to make these new products quite expensive. That, plus the challenge of making the most from our inputs, must mean a change in the way we use our agrochemicals into the future.