Herbicide could control as many as 70 weeds
By Diego Flammini, Farms.com
Corn farmers in the battle against weeds such as Palmer amaranth, giant ragweed and others will have another tool in their arsenal to use against them.
Acuron, the new herbicide by Syngenta recently received approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and could soon be available to farmers.
The product received its registration from the EPA in late April.
Acuron uses bicyclopyrone with mesotrione, S-metolachlor and atrazine to manage a wide variety of weeds – up to 70 according to Syngenta’s research.
Their research also showed glyphosate weed resistance and broadleaf weed infestations in corn have gone up as much as 50% in the past four years.
“Current herbicides are losing effectiveness, and it’s not unusual for us to see growers spending as much as $60 per acre or more on herbicides for corn,” says Gordon Vail, Ph.D., technical product lead for Syngenta. “The best strategy in this scenario is to use a high-performing pre-emerge herbicide like Acuron that will stop weeds before they start, and we’re excited we can now offer it to growers.”
One state has already approved it and farmers will be allowed to use Acuron.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has approved the product and corn farmers in the state will be allowed to apply Acuron to their corn crops.
The USDA states that Minnesota produced 1.18 billion bushels of corn in 2014 with an average yield of 156 bushels per acre.
Join the conversation and tell us your thoughts on Acuron receiving EPA approval. Is it a product you would consider using? If you’re a corn producer in Minnesota, have you used it? What have your results been?