New Burndown Herbicide Flufenoximacil Hits Chinese Market: KingAgroot's Latest Innovation

KingAgroot held a market launch conference for its patented herbicide Kuairufeng（Including patented AI Flufenoximacil） in Chengdu, China, on November 6, 2024. 

The event included 300-plus strategic partners from over 20 provinces across the country and industry media. 

Speaking of the first burndown herbicide created by KingAgroot based on its patented compound flufenoximacil, Kevin Cheng, General Manager of KingAgroot Asia Pacific, said in his speech, ″We hope to take today’s launch as a starting point to pass on KingAgroot’s innovation advantage to more regions to solve farmer’s pain points in weed management. We are ready to market the new-generation burndown herbicide to the entire southwest, south China, and even all over China.″

A speech delivered by Kevin Cheng, General Manager of KingAgroot Asia Pacific

40-year innovative breakthroughs in the development of burndown herbicide 

In recent years, KingAgroot has made remarkable progress in agricultural innovation and application. In September 2024, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs granted complete registration to KingAgroot's patented compound flufenoximacil, representing the release of a disruptive brand-new compound in the burndown herbicide market in the last 40 years.

From 2022 to the present, the prices of several conventional herbicides, such as glyphosate, glufosinate, paraquat, and diquat, have fallen sharply, with an average decline of about 72%. These four herbicides account for 12% of the total pesticide market value of the world and account for 25% of herbicide market value. The drastic price fall and the change in the supply chain have brought a lot of difficulties to the downstream distribution channels. As a result, the herbicide industry urgently needs innovative products to rebuild distributor’s confidence, bringing hope to the pesticide market. In addition to the functional value, the market release of flufenoximacil at this moment in time brings an emotional value to the market.

Moreover, resistance management is another critical issue. According to FAO data, if resistant weeds are not adequately controlled, a 34% reduction in global food production may happen. In an overseas market survey, KingAgroot experienced the actual problems occurring in Brazil, such as the large variety of amaranth, verbena, horseweed herb, and knotgrass, which affected at least 25% of Brazil’s 46 million hectares of soybean plantations, calling for resistance solutions. 

To tackle resistant weeds, in the past 10 to 15 years, the international market has witnessed a noticeable increase in supply of herbicide products, like the increase of sulfentrazone to about 7,000 tons, the increase of flumioxazinhas to an average of about 4,000 tons in recent years, the rapid increase of saflufenacil to about 1,200 tons and the increase of tiafenacil in the Australian market from one-digit volume to nearly 50 tons in two years. All these products have been PPO-inhibiting herbicides, bearing in mind that KingAgroot’s flufenoximacil is a compound of this kind, which is already a product with known advantages, high expectations, and a promising future. 

Kuairufeng - An excellent resistance management tool

By 2030, KingAgroot’s pipeline will include 14+ innovative compounds and will launch 60+ patented formulation products to the Chinese market, covering herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and nematicides, which safeguard a bumper crop harvest.

Furthermore, KingAgroot’s seeds containing flufenoximacil-resistant traits have been planned for market release. In the future, KingAgroot is prepared to constantly create synergy between pesticides and seeds through technological innovation to provide growers with more scientific, complete, and comprehensive planting solutions, contributing to food security in China and the world.

According to the presentation, Kuairufeng is different from most conventional PPO-inhibiting herbicides. In a practical application, Kuairufeng exhibits a broad herbicidal spectrum, higher activity, fast weeding, satisfactory low-temperature resistance, and environmental friendliness. Its herbicidal spectrum covers more than 170 kinds of common weeds, such as Gramineae, broad-leaved weed, and sedge, and it is free of cross-resistance with the existing mainstream herbicides. It is an excellent resistance management tool and a more effective and greener sustainable solution.

Meanwhile, the application technology and channel value of Kuairufeng were shared at the launch conference to present Kuairufeng's product brand and marketing plan.

Via cloud observation, the conference presented the experimentation and demonstration conducted in Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, with satisfactory product effect, which is at the same time endorsed on site by more than 20 kinds of treated resistant/worst weeds from the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Sichuan.

It is reported that Jiangmen of Guangdong Province is one of the most seriously goosegrass-affected regions, where the product has been tested for four cycles, respectively at 3d, 9d, 19d, and 35d, having proved the excellent effect of control of a variety of weeds such as the resistant goosegrass,  fimbristylis miliacea, alternanthera philoxeroides and seedbox. 

At the on-site roundtable on the subject of ″Difficulties, Solutions and Development Forecast of Burndown Herbicides,″ KingAgroot shared the status of the industry development with professional media and distributor representatives. Chen Zhiming, Deputy General Manager of KingAgroot Asia Pacific, revealed that in addition to flufenoximacil, in the future, KingAgroot is going to release more patented compounds for use in the production of burndown herbicides, which will help partners and growers solve the problem of resistance and increase the agricultural productivity.

KingAgroot is creating a simplified new pattern of farming

In recent years, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has issued a series of incentive policies to facilitate innovation. KingAgroot has actively responded to this call to commit itself to technological innovation, having established a sound agricultural research system to create a simplified new pattern of farming that helps farmers increase yield and income.

As China’s representational fast-growing agrochemical enterprise, KingAgroot, starting its business from Qingdao, has gradually grown into an innovation-driven agrotechnical company with global influence. In the future, KingAgroot will continue its business operations based on the needs of farmers and create a diversified product line, focusing on the promotion of agricultural development in two dimensions: 1) Crop protection, including research and development of patented insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, and biostimulants; 2) Biotechnical breeding, covering crossbreeding and biological breeding.

″Our value is rooted in the field which serves the field,″ said Cheng, ″In the future, in the new times, in the face of new problems, KingAgroot will adhere to its initial aspiration and focus on technological innovation to provide more efficient and comprehensive life science solutions in favor of growers, which will be KingAgroot’s contribution to the development of the agrochemical industry.

The market release of Kuairufeng injects new vitality and new solutions into the burndown herbicide industry sector, which will undoubtedly facilitate the industry's development in a more efficient, environmentally friendly, and economical manner. Looking into the future, it is foreseeable that Chinese agrotechnical enterprises will contribute more Chinese solutions to global agricultural production.