BASF and Richardson International announce xarvio commercial agreement

Mar 25, 2024

The tool supports Richardson’s agronomy team in helping Canadian farmers

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

BASF Digital Farming and Richardson Pioneer have announced the first commercial agreement for xarvio FIELD MANAGER between the two parties.

Through this agreement, Richardson will bring the FIELD MANAGER platform to its whole network, including the four provinces in Western Canada.

The FIELD MANAGER platform has four main components – field monitoring, seeding, nutrient management and crop protection.

The nutrient management portion of the platform, for example, lets users create field-zone specific application maps for N, P & K. And users can document and create VRA maps for organic fertilizer and custom fertilizer.

This agreement allows Richardson agronomists to offer farmers more precise recommendations.

Those recommendations from xarvio FIELD MANAGER are based on local conditions and 15 years of biomass imagery and satellite data.

Continuous monitoring, field trials and work from BASF agronomists help support the platform’s decisions.

In canola trials in 2022/23, for example, the platform “consistently predicted economically significant field-specific Sclerotinia disease incidence,” a BASF statement says. “Spraying for Sclerotinia at the optimal time can help to effectively protect yield and improve ROI, particularly in higher-yielding, higher-risk fields.”

It’s now available at Richardson Pioneer Ag Business Centres across the Prairies.

Video: Dicamba Returns for Georgia Farmers: What the New EPA Ruling Means for Cotton Growers

After being unavailable in 2024 due to registration issues, dicamba products are returning for Georgia farmers this growing season — but under strict new conditions.

In this report from Tifton, Extension Weed Specialist Stanley Culpepper explains the updated EPA ruling, including new application limits, mandatory training requirements, and the need for a restricted use pesticide license. Among the key changes: a cap of two ½-pound applications per year and the required use of an approved volatility reduction agent with every application.

For Georgia cotton producers, the ruling is significant. According to Taylor Sills with the Georgia Cotton Commission, the vast majority of cotton planted in the state carries the dicamba-tolerant trait — meaning farmers had been paying for technology they couldn’t use.

While environmental groups have expressed concerns over spray drift, Georgia growers have reduced off-target pesticide movement by more than 91% over the past decade. Still, this two-year registration period will come with increased scrutiny, making stewardship and compliance more important than ever.