Supplies of oilseed rape herbicides come under pressure

Reduced availability and increased demand for metazachlor-based products means that the quantity available to oilseed rape growers for pre-emergence application will be greatly reduced, according to the UK’s leading farm inputs purchasing and crop marketing business.

'The UK oilseed rape acreage has increased considerably this year, but in the short-term the availability of metazachlor-based products has decreased substantially. This is due partly to greater demand from farmers in Europe and to a breakdown at the plant which manufactures a large proportion of the products used in Europe,’ explains John Humphreys, Arable Product Manager for AtlasFram Group.

'Many of the deliveries that were expected during the third week of August will not now arrive until early September, at the earliest. With much of the winter oilseed rape acreage already in the ground, we are advising growers who cannot wait for co-formulated products such as Novall’ or Oryx’ to discuss the options with their agronomist, at the earliest opportunity.

'One option would be to consider ordering straight metazachlor products, such as Fuego’ or Rapsan’ for tank-mixing with clomazone for pre-emergence application. Given the likely increase in demand for all these products, however, growers should act quickly to ensure that they are able to obtain the products they need.’