APVMA gives green light to Nufarm for TriflurX for use on oat growers

The use of trifluralin in 2022 and beyond has been secured for oat growers after Nufarm obtained registration of its herbicide TriflurX from the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).

In 2017, the Grain Industry Association of Western Australia (GIWA) oat council, with the assistance of the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development DPIRD, secured a minor-use permit from the APVMA allowing the use of trifluralin as a pre- emergent herbicide on oats for the suppression of certain annual grasses and broadleaf weeds.

That permit expires on March 31, however with Nufarm having obtained registration for TriflurX, trifluralin, which is a key tool for ryegrass control in oats, remains available to oat growers.

GIWA oat council chairman and Highbury oat grower Ashley Wiese said it was critical growers maintained their reputation for safe, quality oat grain and hay through responsible chemical usage practices.

"Oats are a relatively small crop in Western Australia, but they are a major part of the cropping program for many high rainfall growers and for those in the export hay industry," Mr Wiese said.

"GIWA is therefore very pleased that Nufarm has been able to achieve registration of TriflurX in time for the 2022 growing season."

According to GIWA, the lack of registered herbicide options for oats, which are generally seen by crop protection companies as a minor crop in Australia and therefore not worth the significant investment required to pursue registration of crop protection products, as a clear market failure.

As a result, GIWA has encouraged crop protection companies to include oats in their trials when developing new products for wheat and barley and is actively seeking other ways to make the registration process simpler for crop protection companies.

Mr Wiese said GIWA was keen to assist wherever it can to broaden the range of crop protection products, particularly herbicides, available to oat growers.

"The industry needs more options because across the board, the markets for oat grain and oaten hay are becoming ever more particular about purchasing clean, green oat products," he said.

"To produce grain and hay that is free of both unacceptable chemical residues and weeds, and to do this without inducing herbicide resistance through a reliance on too few chemical groups, growers need more herbicide options available to them.

"GIWA has active participation from all sectors of the oat supply chain, so is uniquely placed to facilitate industry collaboration in this space and recently applied for funding through the AgriFutures Export Fodder Program to help achieve this."

GIWA's AgriFutures grant application, if successful, would enable GIWA to facilitate testing of priority off-patent herbicide activities on oats, and provide this data to crop protection companies to assist them to more easily pursue the registration of priority activities.

"We encourage crop protection companies to pursue registration of in-patent herbicides at their own cost, and will assist wherever we can in that process," Mr Wiese said.

"But the funding we have sought is for off-patent products, which are even harder to get crop companies to pursue registration for because the potential return to them is lower.

"GIWA wants to address this market failure for the good of the oat industry."