Climate favored Brazilian summer crops and fungicide market

Good climate conditions during crop planting and development would result in an expansion of yields of 20 percent per hectare on the summer soybean crop in 2016-2017, in comparison to last year. This is what was revealed at the Amis Kleffmann Group Summer Corn 2016/17 Panel, which pointed out that factors like good prices and ease of acquisition of financing pushed an area increase on a base of 37 percent in the major producing regions of Brazil after four years of retraction.

 

On the other hand, these climate conditions favored the development of fungal diseases, such as rust (Puccinia) and the Phaeospheria leaf spot. According to Kleffmann, this resulted in an expansion of the segment of fungicides, highlighting the increase in foliar fungicides, which doubled in revenue in comparison to the previous crop season.

 

“Fungicides based on Strobirulins (pure or mixtures in the case of strobirulins + triazoles, mostly), are highlighted representing 84 percent of the total market of fungicides. The application of fungicides based on Mancozeb are already consolidated on the applications of mixture, the called protecting fungicides,” according to the consultancy.

 

According to the research, it was evident that the rise of hybrids that have tolerance to the application of herbicides (RR hybrids) today represent 60 percent of the volume sold. According to Kleffmann, this generated direct impacts at the management level, mostly regarding weeds, presenting an increase in the adoption of herbicides based on glyphosate, and lizards when considered the hybrids resistant to the attacks of caterpillars (Bt+RR).

 

“Within the segment of foliar insecticides and the reduction of adoption on the crop, this was mostly due to the increase of planted areas with hybrids that have resistance to caterpillars (hybrid Bt), highlighting new biotechnologies with more effective control to caterpillars. The quality effect on the control of Bt hybrids is the increase of the importance of sucking insects, which made the insecticides of the neonicotinoids, mostly in a mixture with pyrethroids, to have importance in the total market. Today it represented nearly 24 percent of the total market of foliar insecticides.”

 

The panel also highlighted the incidence of Dalbulus maidis on corn, a vector of the phytoplasma of the mollicutes class, which causes symptoms on the plant like fetish, mostly in the state of Bahia and Minas Gerais, causing important production losses. “It could be said that one of the factors of plague increases related to voluntary corn, which brings maintenance of the inoculum,” the consultancy said in conclusion.