Media
BASF: Scouting, proactive measures key to disease control for soybean growers
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC, July 14, 2011 – With soybean prices at an all-time high, it is arguably the most important time ever for soybean growers to squeeze as much yield as possible out of every acre. Unfortunately, for some growers, the season has not started as they hoped.
With the uncertainties soybean growers across the Midwest face because of the late planting season this spring, early scouting and proactive disease control measures will be crucial to minimizing risk and achieving maximum yields in 2011.
Growers who find disease presence during scouting should consider a well-timed application of Headline® fungicide, which protects soybean crops, curbs disease and provides Plant Health benefits.
“Profit potential has soybean growers looking to capitalize on excellent commodity prices in 2011,” said Nick Fassler, Technical Market Manager, BASF. “With soybean prices at an all-time high, it’s extremely important for growers to protect their investments in order to get the greatest return on investment from their acres.”
Soybeans are often stressed by unpredictable weather conditions and high disease pressure, making proactive management strategies—including scouting—extremely important. As the season heats up, crops become stressed as they compete for sunlight, nutrients and water, leaving them susceptible to damaging diseases, making a grower’s fungicide choice critical to maximizing yield potential.
“It’s important for growers and retailers to get in the fields to understand what pressures they’re facing and address the timing aspect of a potential fungicide application,” said Fassler. “Proper timing of a fungicide application is crucial to ensure growers are making an application at the optimum growth stage to protect from late season diseases, such as septoria brown spot, frogeye leaf spot and cercospora leaf blight.
“Research clearly shows the optimal timing of a fungicide for growers across the Midwest is at R3, giving the maximum residual for minimizing stress, protecting the crop canopy and providing maximum quality at harvest. By applying Headline fungicide, growers will protect their soybeans from late-season foliar diseases, to finish the season strong,” continued Fassler.
With extensive on-farm research conducted from 2005-2010, soybean growers have seen the benefits of Headline fungicide in protecting yield. In more than 30 university replicated soybean trials, Headline provided consistent yield advantages of more than 3.8 bushels per acre over untreated areas, while regularly outperforming competitive products.
For more information on BASF Crop protection products, visit http://agproducts.basf.us, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
About the Crop Protection division
With sales of €4.0 billion in 2010, BASF’s Crop Protection division is a leader in crop protection and a strong partner to the farming industry providing well-established and innovative fungicides, insecticides and herbicides. Farmers use these products and services to improve crop yields and crop quality. Other uses include public health, structural/urban pest control, turf and ornamental plants, vegetation management, and forestry. BASF aims to turn knowledge rapidly into market success. The vision of BASF’s Crop Protection division is to be the world’s leading innovator, optimizing agricultural production, improving nutrition, and thus enhancing the quality of life for a growing world population. Further information can be found on the web at www.agro.basf.com or follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/basfagro
BASF – The Chemical Company
BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has approximately 16,400 employees in North America, and had sales of $17.7 billion in 2010. For more information about BASF’s North American operations, visit www.basf.us.
BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products, and agricultural products to oil and gas. As a reliable partner, BASF creates chemistry to help its customers in virtually all industries to be more successful. With its high-value products and intelligent solutions, BASF plays an important role in finding answers to global challenges, such as climate protection, energy efficiency, nutrition and mobility. BASF posted sales of more than €63.9 billion in 2010 and had approximately 109,000 employees as of the end of the year. Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com or in the Social Media Newsroom at newsroom.basf.com.
Always read and follow label directions.
©2011 BASF Corporation. All Rights Reserved. APN 11-11-002-0023hl-12
P-10-0049