New Anthem Herbicide Should Be on the Market Late 2012

Farmers will have more choice later this year for broad spectrum weed control for grassy and broadleaf weeds and wide windows of application when FMC’s new Anthem herbicide (active ingredient: pyroxasulfone + fluthiacet-methyl) is approved. FMC expects EPA approval of Anthem and Anthem ATZ in time for a fall 2012 release.

There is plenty that is brand new about Anthem, according to FMC’s Rick Ekins.

“This is brand new active ingredient technology, brand new formulations technology, especially when you’re talking about a new ATZ or atrazine product. We’ve been able to do some fabulous things with this in our formulations lab, and so it’s a very nice product to use. It’s a very well-mixing product, both of these are. So I think you’ll find some differences in some of the handling features that you see with a product like this.”

Ekins says the wide application window that can run from 45 days prior to planting all the way to V4 creates plenty of flexibility for grower application.

“The residual of this product is extremely long,” he told HAT, “so that allows you to get control for a long time if you’re going to start with a very early application like that 45 days out. But I think it depends a lot on what a grower is trying to get out of this. If you’re trying to get maximum weed control in a single application, then you probably want to time your application a little bit closer to planting so that you can get the crop in the ground and get the weed control that you need that will carry you all the way to canopy. But not every grower plants corn like that.”

And for those growers who don’t Anthem works well in any number of situations, plus it can be used with any corn product and with any tillage system a grower uses.

Ekins is Anthem Brand Manager for FMC and is expecting a September to October approval from EPA.