UPL Argentina announces new herbicide, fungicide

UPL Argentina announced its developments for the season, with the highlight being the launch of two new products, which are the herbicide, Lifeline, and the fungicide, Goldleaf.

Lifeline is a herbicide formulation based on glufosinate-ammonium, a leading international product for UPL. It is now arriving in Argentina to “complement weed control programs with a new tool for the post-emergence of soybean resistant to this molecule,” according to UPL.

According to the manufacturer, this product “does not leave residue in the soil, so it does not affect the choices for the next crop. This new mode of action for soybean cultivation complements the control program recommended by UPL, whose main management tools for preventing new resistance are crop rotation and residual herbicides formulated with mixtures.”

UPL’s other launch in Argentina for this campaign is Goldleaf, a foliar fungicide that is triple mix, multisite and systemic for soybean cultivation. It is composed of Azoxystrobin, Prothioconazole and Mancozeb in the WDG formulation with dissolution quality. According to the Indian company, this fungicide acts on eight sites of fungal cells, with six sites being affected by the multisite Mancozeb, making it an effective tool for controlling and managing resistant diseases that affect soybean crops.

Rodrigo Ramírez, general manager of UPL Argentina

In a presentation, Rodrigo Ramírez, general manager of UPL Argentina, said, “If something sets UPL apart, it's the way we relate to the market. This is part of our OpenAg purpose, which drives us to work in a network to grow in food production sustainably. We are just facilitators of a network that has producers as its main players. With them we are working, learning, discovering together the way to understand and address the current and future problems that agriculture faces.”

“Digital transformation and sustainability are current issues, and in this line, UPL is paving the way together with producers, distributors and a multitude of other actors in the product ecosystem. We are learning about and utilizing different technologies for people while working in a regenerative economy and investing in the long-term, so we will all win,” he added.

Diego Gandulfo, marketing director at UPL Argentina

Diego Gandulfo, marketing director at UPL Argentina, also presented NPP (Natural Plant Protection), a new business unit that brings together the company’s entire portfolio of bio-based products and technologies. “UPL is the world's largest biosolutions manufacturer and distributor, and NPP will focus on UPL's global biosolutions operations, which represent 7% of total revenue. The biosolutions market is estimated to grow to US$10 billion by 2025 in response to demand for more sustainable food,” Gandulfo said.

The company recently confirmed an alliance with Novozymes in Argentina, through which Nitragin-branded biological products will be marketed as part of UPL's portfolio, packaged with its fungicides. “In response to demand for more sustainable agriculture, the biosolutions market is growing three times faster than the crop protection market, and Argentina is no exception to this trend,” Gandulfo added.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)