Expointer 2018: 2,4-D ban would increase costs by 400% in Brazil

By Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages

 

A study released during Expointer 2018 by Professor Robison Osipe from the State University of North Paraná indicated that the absence of the herbicide 2,4-D on crops such as soybeans, sugarcane, corn, wheat, rice, and coffee, would cause an increase of 418% in costs for Brazilian agriculture. According to the professor, the production cost would have a very significant effect if it had to replace 2,4-D by other existent herbicides in the market.

 

“In corn, this increase would be 496%, while the sugarcane projection would be 623%. The operation of weed management aimed at the no-tillage planting of wheat and the control of post-emergency on rice, would have an increase of 550% and 557%, respectively,” Osipe told AgroPages. 

 

Agronomist and farmer Claudia Andrea Aquino Silveira of the Urutau Farm said that the herbicide is safe for the applicator, as well as for neighboring crops. She added that the cost of 2,4-D was 50% lower than other options. 

 

“In soybean crops, for instance, the economic option would be chlorimuron, but there were some restrictions over instants commonly present in the market. Even so, this herbicide would increase 50.51% in total control cost compared to 2,4-D. If the replacement would be the sequence application of the herbicides glyphosate and paraquat, the expenditure would be the largest of all with R$72.72 per hectare, increasing the costs at an average of 800%,” Silveira said. 

 

According to Silveira, in the case of corn, the situation would not be very different. “In corn, the average price of 2,4-D application in the management of no-tillage is R$8.19 per hectare. The average prices of alternative herbicides are higher, with R$48.46 per hectare, which represents an increase of almost 500%,” she concluded.
 

AgroPages attended the event and distributed its newly published magazine - 2018 Latin America Focus.