Published on 31/03/2022
All you have to do is cast your eyes over your agchem stock and stores, and see how many grey containers are on the shelf or in the warehouse.
Why? Because almost certainly they contain product that was manufactured by Dow AgroSciences before it became Corteva Agriscience.
Corteva has now been inexistence for three years. With the change of name came a change in pack colour, from the distinctive grey Dow used for many years to the white that virtually dominates the market.
“It’s a very easy way to spot older product,” says national sales manager Richard Brenton-Rule. “Those grey drums in particular tend to stand out.”
He knows, because he and his field team have been seeing a few too many of them in retail stores and farm chemical sheds, along with old Dow AgroSciences branding. In one notable case, the date of manufacture (DOM) for the product in question was 2014; In others, DOMs have stretched back to 2017.
The concern with these older packs is not cosmetic, but rather product integrity and stewardship.
“We really can’t guarantee the performance, particularly if the drum or packet has been opened,” he explains. “Once opened, there’s a greater risk of degradation and/or contamination.”
By law, all crop protection products sold in the New Zealand market must carry a DOM. If they are highly perishable, some will also carry a use-by or shelf-life date. If there is no shelf-life or use-by date on the label, for regulatory purposes products are assumed to be stable for at least two years from the DOM, under normal storage conditions. (That means they’re stored unopened, away from direct sun and at a stable temperature.)
In other words, going back to the 2014 drum Brenton-Rule found in a store recently, even if it had been stored impeccably, it was still five years past the time it should have been used.
That was an extreme example, but ‘younger’ older packs are equally concerning, he says. “We can’t recommend they be used, particularly in a high-risk scenario.”
Corteva’s general guidance on any products leaving its warehouse is that they should be used in the current season, or the following one. That’s why this autumn and winter are the perfect time to check your greys, because all current (white) Corteva containers are within two years of manufacture.
They should be rotated per their DOM, as per normal practice, but apart from that, they’re good to go.
Brenton-Rule agrees it can be easy to get caught out with inventory, and end up carrying a bit of stock over. “In those situations the best thing to do is call your local Corteva territory sales manager with the batch number or DOM and the name of the product –they’ll be able to give you some advice.”
The same goes for the grey containers or anything with old branding. He also understands why holding onto older product that hasn’t sold is more commercially palatable than writing it off. The fact remains, however, that the longer it sits around after its DOM is two years old, the less use it is.
“As a general rule, we recommend purchasing pack sizes appropriate for the job. Larger drums or packs can be more attractive because the product price per litre or kilogram is lower. But buying packs suitable for the job at hand or season ahead is better.
“It reduces the risk of products sitting in the shed well past the time when they should be there and for farmers and contractors, minimizes chemical inventory.”