Crops: The Lynch File - Product Inquiries (PIs) can be a win for everyone

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

But make sure you report them promptly and with detailed records. And guard against unrealistic expectations

by PAT LYNCH

Crop PIs – or Product Inquiries – have few friends. Producers are upset about them. Retailers find them hard on customer relationships. But crop protection companies accept them as a fact of their business and, once you understand the rules of
PIs, you can deal with them more intelligently.

A PI starts when a producer complains that a product does not perform as expected. The most difficult ones to deal with are when there are unrealistic expectations, such as expecting 100 per cent weed control all season, or expecting an herbicide to control weeds that are not on the label.

For an herbicide to receive a label registration, it must give 80-90 per cent control. When there is very high weed pressure, 90 per cent control can leave a lot of weeds. Growers expect 100 per cent control 100 per cent of the time. This is an unrealistic expectation, regardless of those nice marketing pictures showing completely weedless fields.  

Similarly, you cannot expect herbicides to control weeds not on the label. For instance, many weeds have developed resistance to certain groups of herbicides. The normal types of certain species will be controlled, but not the resistant sub-types.

The intent of crop protection companies standing behind their products is to give you weed control that prevents yield loss. You can have weed escapes that will not affect yield. Sometimes, growers have low levels of weeds escapes and expect someone to pay for a respray. The producer argues that he will have weed seeds produced which he was not expecting. But the intent of herbicide registrations is to have weed control that will produce a crop without hurting yield. To have herbicides which will prevent weeds from going to seed is an unrealistic expectation.

Most producers are concerned about why a product failed. Was it related to timing, adjuvant, water volume, poor incorporation, or some other factor? Most producers really want to know what went wrong so to prevent it from happening again.

Most crop protection companies stand behind their products under reasonable circumstances. These include the rare situations where weed control failed for no known reason.

In some cases, a company will make it clear that, while they are helping with
a partial respray this year, they will not do the same thing next year. A case of this would be a new resistant weed type or improper application.

Many producers want the escaped weeds controlled, but this is often not possible. If the first product you used gave partial control, the weeds will be under stress and harder to kill. A rule of weed control is that "the weed most actively growing needs to be controlled." If the first product has put the weed under stress, it may be impossible to control it with a respray.

Often, when the first spray fails, the weeds are not dead but growing slowly. Then you receive a rain and the weeds start to grow actively. By this time, the crop may be too advanced to be safely sprayed. Or the crop canopy has closed in and coverage is not possible.

PIs must be resolved as soon as detected. Some growers report product failures at harvest time. This is far beyond the deadline that companies have for dealing with PIs.

Report a problem as soon as you see it. Have complete records, including spray date, water volume, all products in the tank including adjuvant, order of mixing, last field sprayed, last product sprayed, next field sprayed. Have copies of any field scout reports along with planting history. Also include information about hybrid-variety, last year's crop and last year's fertilizer as well as details of any seed treatments. All of this information is crucial to a speedy resolution.

Crop protection companies use the information collected from PIs to help producers use their products better in the future. If there are some common factors in a product failure, these will be discussed within the company to reduce the chance of this happening again.

PIs are an important part of growing crops. Please approach them with professionalism so that every one can win. BF

Pat Lynch CCA (ON) is head agronomist for Cargill in Ontario.