Stewardship for HT-Varieties practical experiences and future considerations

May 2014 – EWRS workshop Frankfurt/Main

Matthias Pfenning

Outline

Stewardship for HT-Varieties

Value pyramid – example HT sunflower

Advantages of HT-Varieties for the weed management

Key sustainability problems

Situation analysis (example HT sunflower)

HT-Management plan (in the crop rotation)

Examples sunflower and rice

Stewardship - Key elements

Summary and outlook

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HT – Stewardship?

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Stewardship – only some kind of “pain in the neck” for industry, seed co’s, distribution and farmers?

…..and it

causes only confusion in the market!?

….or the only way to sustain the value of HT-

varieties

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Growers have rapidly adopted herbicide tolerant sunflowers (HT-sunflower) crops since commercialization almost a decade ago. In 2012, HT-sunflower area reached more then 1/3 of approximately 15 million hectares of sunflower planted in Europe. Such rapid adoption of the new herbicide-tolerance technology suggests that growers perceive significant benefits. Herbicide-tolerant sunflower have generated substantial value to all stakeholders in the value chain including farmers, distributors, seed breeders, crop protection industry and oil-mills. Not all the value of HT-sunflower crops is monetary. Besides cost savings and/or yield enhancement, important sources of value also include non-pecuniary factors such as the simplification of weed control, greater flexibility in weed control, and ease of integration into conservation tillage.

Advantages for Weed Management

New herbicide options for weed management problems in crops with a

lack of suitable solutions

Complementary / alternative activity for genetic tolerance on parasitic

weed problems

Reduced crop loss / impact from herbicide residues

Better fit in IPM programs due to postemergence application

Lower dose rates and better environmental safety than other herbicides

Higher application flexibility

Better fit for minimum / no-till situations

Less depending on moisture (soil) conditions

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Value pyramid – HT sunflower

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Yield, Quality

Post-emergence

Simplification of weed control, timing flexibility,

conservation tillage

Difficult weeds, e.g. Xanthium, Orobanche, Ambrosia, Cirsium,

Convolvulus,

Key sustainability issues

Herbicide resistance management

Control of herbicide tolerant volunteers

Avoidance of tolerance outcrossing

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The following key sustainability topics form the basis of a HT – Variety

Stewardship Plan.

Situation Analysis – HT sunflower (example)

Two HT – sunflower systems in different markets available

Both are based on ALS – inhibitors (imazamox, tribenuron)

ALS – mode of action (MOA) is highly vulnerable to resistance development.

Crop rotation

Short crop rotations in some areas is common practice - sunflower // w-wheat

// sunflower)

Specific areas also only with continues spring crops e.g. sunflower // soybean

and/or corn // spring wheat // sunflower

Wild sunflower (related species)

HT- sunflower systems are often used to control wild sunflower (e.g. France).

However – accompanying measures are missing (field boarders, neighboring

fields or in field failures) are not sufficiently controlled to avoid outcrossing

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Situation Analysis – continue

Weed control and Herbicide use

ALS inhibitor use in every crop (sunflower, wheat, corn etc.)

Often – solely ALS inhibitors with related problems of volunteer control

Often no intercropping weed control (mechanical / glyphosate)

Sustainability and value of the HTC crops

If there is no resistance on the major weeds

Xanthium, Ambrosia, Datura, cruciferae, Orobanche, wild rice, wild sunflower….

Stewardship implementation

Insufficient knowledge about weed resistance on farmer level

Farmers are adverse to stewardship programs due to short economical impacts or

higher complexity

No proactive stewardship implementation - distribution and knowledge transfer by

conventional media e.g. product / seed bag label / brochures are insufficient

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Stewardship is not a “in-crop” activity only

Stewardship is a “crop rotation” management and addresses:

herbicide resistance / weed shifts related to HT-varieties

As well as

occurrence of herbicide tolerant volunteers

Based on

guidelines for rotation of crops and chemicals

Outcrossing to related wild relatives

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HT- Management Plan

Different stakeholders in the HT

management plan

Industry, seed companies,

distribution / advisors and the

farmers in a partnership for the

HT-system

Resistance risk in a HTC crop rotation – Crop rotation analysis

Year 3 Year 2 Year 1

Crop Rotation

Application periode

Herbicide Program

examples

high risk - situation

Pulsar®40 or Express®

(HRAC group "B")

HTC Sunflower (n)

Spring time

Inter-cropping

no - tillage

Promote the

emergence of

weeds

ALS herbicide

HRAC Group "B"

only

Spring

Campagne (n + 1) Spring Wheat Inter-cropping

no-tillage

Promote the

emergence of

weeds

Campagne (n + 2)

HTC-Sunflower

Spring

Pulsar®40 or Express®

(HRAC group "B")

Example of current weed control program in a HTC (Express or Clearfield) Sunflower - crop rotation - HIGH resistance risk

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Resistance risk in a HTC crop rotation – Crop rotation analysis

Year 3 Year 2 Year 1

Crop Rotation

Application periode

Herbicide Program

examples

medium to low risk - situation

HTC Sunflower (n)

Spring time

Pre-emergence

herbicide fb. Pulsar®40

or Express®

(HRAC group "B")

Example of current weed control program in a HTC (Express or Clearfield) Sunflower - crop rotation - HIGH resistance risk

Inter-cropping

seed bed

preaparation Autum Spring

Promote the

emergence of

weeds -

Glyphosate as

stubble

treatment

Soil residual

herbicde HRAC

Group "K1"

and/or ->

Phenoxy

herbicide

HRAC Group "O"

Campagne (n + 1) Winter Wheat Inter-cropping

seed bed

preaparation

Promote the

emergence of

weeds -

Glyphosate as

stubble

treatment

Soil residual herbicide

(HRAC Group "K3")

+ HPPD herbicide

(HRAC Group "F4")

Campagne (n + 2)

Corn

Spring

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Clearfield® Production System

Crop Rotation Recommendations

Crop rotation recommendations with Clearfield crops

HT Sunflowers and HT oilseed rape not in the same crop

- Clearfield OSR cannot be effectively controlled in all sunflower systems

Sugar beets and oilseed rape

- oilseed rape (conv. & HT) is a problem weed in sugar beets and therefore

should be avoided in the same field rotations

Rice – alternation with conventional rice – no continues HT rice

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Controlling Clearfield Volunteers

Best Management Practice is to control volunteer plants in the following crop.

Promote germination of the volunteer seeds on the soil surface and avoid the

accumulation of seeds in the soil (secondary dormancy).

ALS inhibitor herbicides (Group B) will not exhibit in any case complete control of

CLEARFIELD volunteers. All other approved herbicide from other HRAC groups

may still be used and will be effective.

Clean up of farm equipment during all stages of sowing, harvesting, storage and

transport are important in the effective control of volunteers and in preventing seed

dispersal.

Best Management Practice is to make volunteer control part of weed, pest and

disease management strategies.

Clearfield sunflower

Practical examples and problems

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Stewardship Recommendation:

a.) HT tolerant OSR and sunflower

should not be grown in the same crop

rotation.

Stewardship Recommendation:

b.) Avoid fields with a high pressure of

wild sunflowers. Control survived wild

sunflower by mechanical means

Stewardship Recommendation:

c.) Solely ALS inhibitor not more

than 2 out of 4 years

… the reality in sunflower rotations

sunflower // OSR rotations (both are HT)

sunflower // sunflower // corn / soybean rotations based on ALS inhibitors

sunflower // wheat rotations solely based on ALS inhibitors

continuous ALS use in certain regions

No follow up (mechanically / fence-line /neighboring fields ) in wild

sunflower areas

These problems occur mostly in larger farms, where agronomical

knowledge is overruled by economical interests of the owner

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Clearfield rice

Practical examples and problems

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Stewardship Recommendation (excerpt):

1) Use certified seed every year

2) Start clean

3) apply residual Herbicides (oxadiazon) in pre sowing (water seeded

rice) or in pre emergence in dry seeded rice

4) Always use two sequential application of Beyond + Dash

5) Scout the field after the treatment to check if there untreated spots

repeat treatment if necessary

6) remove all red rice plants eventually escaped before flowering.

7) Never plant Clearfield rice in consecutive growing season in the same

field.

8) maintain dams (leeves), canals etc clean of weeds especially red rice

… the reality in rice rotations

wild rice seeds up to 5 seeds / 500 g officially allowed in certified seed

brown bagging (no certified seeds)

continues rice growing and continues ALS use

No alternation with other wild rice control methods (e.g. stale seed beds)

Borders / levees are not kept weed free

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Information flow Call center

Hotline

Webpage

Education and training

Best management guides

Volunteer management Chemically

Non chemically

Seed dispersal

Sec. dormancy

Proactive Communication Users

Non-Users

Multipliers

Distribution and Seed co’s

Resistant Management Herbicide Rotation

Combinations

Integrated Management

Resistance Monitoring

Key elements of CLEARFIELD®

Stewardship

Seed Co’s Communication alignment

Trainings

Hybrid qualification

Seed purity

Product related Resistance monitoring

Application timing

Dose recommendation

Out-crossing To conv. crops

Wild relatives

Impact on or from non-users neighboring fields

Effective stewardship implementation requires attention, technical know-how, adequate resources at local (decision maker) level

System related Claim management

Webpage

Education and training

Summary and outlook

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Farmers are often adverse to implement a proactive weed management

program to prevent or delay the selection for herbicide resistance. Short term

economic return and the difficulty to predict the exact costs if herbicide

resistance were to evolve can affect the grower’s decision to adopt integrated

weed management (IWM) practices (Rotteveel et al. 1997; Llewellyn et al.

2002).

Stewardship information transfer is based on conventional tools like:

Label information (chemical and seed)

Web pages

Brochures

Farmer meetings (limited)

Summary

Currently no pro-active stewardship implementation

Insufficient knowledge about weed resistance on farmer level

Short term economical interest – overrule common agricultural knowledge

Proactive communication formats, e.g. web based learning tools, field day

communication, target-oriented fact sheets in email/fax/sms form.

Risk rating tools for direct communication to the end user.

Contractual compliance with the end-user?

Reinforce the importance of IPM approaches when using HT crops to

ensure profitable and sustainable farming practices.

Educational efforts have to be improved (resistance management)

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HT Charter / Stewardship

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Charter

EU wide agreement

Across industry (ECPA , ESA, etc)

Applies across crops

Stewardship Plan

Complies with charter principles

Country and crop specific

Technology specific

… and outlook

Farmers see HT varieties as a tool in their toolbox and do not sole rely on the

same technology (MOA based)

HT-Variety advantages can be sustained mid and long term if basic IPM rules are

followed.

Aligned education efforts are increased on a broad level by all involved

stakeholders – industry, breeders, distribution and official / private agronomists

and advisors.

EU charter defines the principles for the future stewardship management for HT

varieties

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Thank you

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