Getting to the next plateau of disease control in crops

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Ontario corn and soybean growers could get another $40 million in profit in 2012 if they use a fungicide on their crops

by PAT LYNCH

You try to protect your family from diseases. You protect livestock from disease. You know disease prevention in crops is good business. The same is true for diseases in livestock. But disease control in crops is not practiced very well – with the exception of winter wheat.

Ontario corn and soybean growers could get another $40 million in profit in 2012 if they used a fungicide on corn and soys and if they treated them at the same level as they treat winter wheat. In 2011, about 85 per cent of Ontario's winter wheat acres were treated with a fungicide. This was due to the co-operation of industry, Ontario researchers and government extension folk. These include my sometime friend at the agriculture ministry, Peter Johnston.

Currently, about seven per cent of Ontario's corn crop is treated with a fungicide. On-farm plots give some idea of the yield increase that can be expected. One company has 282 on-farm plots over five years that show growers can expect an average yield increase of 8.7 bushels an acre when corn is sprayed with its product. With soybeans, another company has 120 on-farm trials showing an average yield increase of about four bushels per acre when growers used their fungicide.

If we calculate that it could cost five bushels per acre to treat corn, there is a profit of 3.7 bushels per acre. If 80 per cent of Ontario's corn acreage is treated, that is 1.4 million acres times 3.7 bushels per acre or 4.9 million bushels. If we figure a return of $4.50 a bushel, this means $22 million more profit for Ontario corn producers.

This is not putting a value on the better standability of corn treated with a fungicide. Increasing standability can increase harvested yield and also allows you to leave some corn acres in the field longer to reduce drying costs.

For soybeans, the average yield increase from treating with a fungicide is about 3.5 bushels per acre. The cost to treat is about two bushels per acre, giving a profit of 1.5 bushels per acre by spraying soybeans with a fungicide.  

In 2011, about five per cent of soybean acres were sprayed with a fungicide. If we can take this to 80 per cent, that would be about 1.4 million acres. Using $10.50 a bushel, this is about $20 million more profit for soybean growers.

One of the obstacles to spraying corn with a fungicide at tasseling time is availability of equipment.

There is a shortage of equipment, both aerial and ground, for applying fungicides to corn at tassel time. There is more equipment available in 2012 than there was in 2011, but if you want to apply a fungicide to corn at tasseling time, consider lining it up now. Currently, we do not have enough equipment to apply fungicides to a significant number of corn acres. I think that, if growers made a decision now to apply a fungicide at tasseling time, more equipment would become available.

Is it realistic to reach 80 per cent of Ontario's corn and soy bean acres treated with a fungicide in 2012? Absolutely not.  But it is realistic to have 75-80 per cent of growers trying a fungicide on some acres. Or at least taking a real hard look at neighbours who are using these crop protectants.

We will get to the next disease plateau by better disease control in field crops. When commodity prices are good is the time when you should try out these new practices. Then, when times get tougher again, you will know which practices to continue with. BF

Consulting agronomist Pat Lynch, CCA (ON), formerly worked with the Ontario agriculture ministry and with Cargill.