123 www.seed.ab.ca | fall.2018 Seed treatments are changing how manufacturers commercialize products. “We now have a dedicated seed and soilborne pathogens screening program [at BASF],” Trischuk explains. “All molecules are screened not only for efficacy against foliar diseases, but against all major diseases attacking the seed and seedling in the soil. That’s in contrast to what we used to do, where we’d find an active ingredient that was a good fungicide, develop it for foliar use, and then look to see if there’s was a fit on seed or in soil.” He believes that change in philosophy has allowed them to identify a couple of molecules that they don’t think would have passed screening for a foliar fungicide but have been found to be very effective on seed or in soil. They’ll help change how you make product selections. In the end, Trischuk says when comparing biological and chemical solutions — especially with regard to consistency of performance and expectation of results — farmers need to examine their expectations. “Some of these products don’t have a requirement to submit efficacy data to receive registration,” he says. “Make sure you ask questions about the product. If there’s only been one trial, how credible is that data? At BASF we try to give a lot of info about what the grower can expect. If you want to know how something works, ask for data.” Marc Zienkiewicz 6 7 “We’ve made big strides in yield over the past few decades due to effective fungicides, herbicides and insecticides plus a big contribution from genetics technologies.” —Russell Trischuk STORM (SeedTreatment Optimized Rate Metering) is the latest innovation in seed treating equipment. STORM FX provides the ultimate seed treating solution for a modern-day farming operation. STORM seed treaters continue to make each job simple, accurate, convenient and safe. Take the guesswork out of seed treating. AGGROWTH.COM | STORMTREATERS.COM | 855.662.6609