Volume 18, No. 1

MARYLAND WEED REPORTER

By now, most of you should have received a new copy of Extension Bulletin 237, Pest Management Recommendations for Field Crops. One big change is the binding. We've gone to spiral binding. In the past we've had too many complaints about the glue binding coming apart and pages falling out. Also, in the past, it was difficult to keep the book open to a particular page with the glue binding. Hopefully the spiral binding will take care of these problems. It's a little more pricey, but worth it.

Let me outline some of the changes made to the Weed Control Section. We've updated the Guide to prepackaged mixes by deleting the following:

These products are no longer available. We've also added some newer products like Guardsman Max and Steadfast.

In the Guide to single active ingredients, we've deleted Bladex, Broadstrike and Frontier and added new products such as Balance, Callisto, Define, Outlook and Valor. We also made some changes in product names such as Blazer to Ultra Blazer, Gramoxone Extra to Gramoxone Max, Pinnacle to Harmony GT, and Touchdown 5 to Touchdown

In the Rain-free requirements we made similar changes by dropping older products and adding newer ones such as Callisto and Steadfast.

In the Corn herbicides and restrictions table, we also deleted older products and added the newer ones.

In the Corn effectiveness tables and the Grazing and forage restrictions table we also deleted the older herbicides and added the newer ones such as Callisto, Define, Harmony GT, Outlook, Steadfast and Touchdown. Similar changes were made in the Approved tank-mix tables as well.

Throughout the entire Weed Control Section take note of the following changes;

• Gramoxone Extra has been changed to Gramoxone Max and rates adjusted to reflect the new 3.0 lb ai/gallon material.
• Roundup Ultra has also been changed to Roundup Ultra Max and rates adjusted to reflect the newer formulation.
• Touchdown 5 now becomes Touchdown with rates adjusted as well.
• Frontier has been replaced by Outlook.
• Pinnacle now becomes Harmony GT.

Corn

New entries in the corn section include the following:

Preemergence - Callisto

Postemergence - Callisto and Steadfast

All Bladex designations have been deleted since the product is no longer available.

The Hornet formulation has been changed to Hornet 68.5WP.

Touchdown is now available for use on Roundup-Ready corn and is included in the corn section.

Forages, Pastures, Grain Sorghum, Small Grains and Soybeans

Basically, similar changes were made, especially as they pertain to changes in Gramoxone,

Roundup and Touchdown; Frontier to Outlook; and Pinnacle to Harmony GT.

Maverick and Harmony GT have been added to the small grains section.

In the soybean section, we added FirstRate/Amplify, Valor and changed Blazer to Ultra Blazer.

Throughout the text, we also went through all rotational tables, including the Vegetable herbicide rotation restrictions table at the end of the weed control section to include new entries and update older ones.

New changes

As usual, changes are constantly occurring in the weed control area.

• In corn, Balance is labeled for use in Pennsylvania, but not in Maryland.
• A new postemergence grass product for use in corn, called Option, may be available in 2002.
• Yukon is a premix of Permit and dicamba that may also be available in 2002 for postemergence broadleaf weed control in corn. By containing Permit, Yukon will also have good activity on yellow nutsedge.
• Raptor recently obtained a label for use in alfalfa and dry beans.
• Raptor will also be available for use in Clearfield wheat under the trade name Beyond.

Ag Statistics

In reading a number of trade magazines, I came by a few statistics that I thought were interesting.

Global Crop Protection Players

Company 2000 sales*

1. Syngenta................$5.88 billion

2. Monsanto............... 3.60 billion

3. Aventis................... 3.48 billion

4. BASF..................... 3.33 billion

5. Dow....................... 2.61 billion

6. Bayer..................... 2.26 billion

7. DuPont.................. 2.02 billion

*Based on crop protection sales only.

However, the plot thickens. Bayer will shortly be acquiring Aventis giving them the number two spot in global crop protection players. That will leave only 8 players left in the ag chemical industry when you include FMC and Valent to the total.

Grain in the Heartland

More than 80% of grain production takes place in the nation's center.

Percentage of 2000/2001 grain production by region

Northeast	2.6 %	Easten Corn Belt	30.7 %
Southeast	4.4 %	Western Corn Belt	26.7 %
Delta	2.3 %	Northern Plains	9.6 %
Southern Plains	4.2 %	Central Plains	15.9 %
West	0.7 %
Pacific Northwest	2.9 %

 

More Bean Counting

In 2001, the number of acres planted to soybeans grew at the expense of corn. Cotton acreage remained unchanged. Numbers represent millions of acres planted.

Revenue Mix

The CropLife (December 2001) top 100 retailers accounted for almost $11 billion in revenues during 2001. Here's the breakdown by category.

This Year's Rankings

Companies included in the 2001 CropLife (December 2001) top 100 listing were limited to independent dealerships and cooperatives offering fertilizer, crop protection and seed. A number of these companies serve our area, and I pulled them out so you can see how they rank.

Over $500 million in retail sales:

$499 million - $100 million in retail sales:

$24.9 million - $15 million in retail sales:

57 Willard 2 4 33% 56% 1% 10%

How did your local retailer shake out in this survey?

Until next time,

Ronald L. Ritter

Extension Weed Control Specialist