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Prosaro & VIMOY iblon will help you capture high commodity prices

Published on 22/07/2022

We are seeing large increases in the price of fuel, fertiliser and, to some extent, agrochemicals.

The question is: Have commodity price increases outweighed input price rises to deliver a greater profit?

Having crunched the numbers Bayer has concluded the answer is yes, cereal gross margins are likely to increase substantially for the autumn 2023 harvest.

So, as we head into spring, what are the most important inputs to take advantage of these high prices?

Putting to one side fertiliser which is a necessity, the focus needs to be on fungicides as it is these that will deliver yield for you.

Bayer trials carried out in the past few years have consistently shown applying a comprehensive fungicide programme has led to im-pressive yield increases and higher profits. But as expected, when conducting fungicide trials over several seasons, varying disease pressure leads to variable yield increases.

In Bayer’s case, yield increases in our wheat trials have ranged from 2.0 t/ha to 9.0 t/ha in the past five seasons. In the 2018/19 season, when Bayer recorded a yield increase of 9 t/ha when compared to the untreated crop, the profit after input costs was around $2850/ha at the prevailing prices.

Last year, based on prevailing prices, the calculated return had increased to $3280. For harvest 2023 that profit is expected to be nearer $5100/ha.

And while a 2 t/ha yield increase might sound modest, with cereals worth $550–600/t, a 2 t/ha yield increase is going to return a profit of around $750/ha over fungicide costs.

To achieve these types of responses in wheat, Bayer would recommend applying a GS32, GS39 and GS65 fungicide programme based on the DMI fungicide Prosaro and the SDHI fungicide VIMOY iblon.

Both provide very effective control of the three key wheat diseases, namely speckled leaf blotch, leaf rust and stripe rust. However, in recent years the key yield delivering applications in Bayer’s fungicide trials have been flag leaf emergence (GS39) and ear fully emerged (GS60-65).

Therefore, the recommendation is to apply Prosaro +VIMOY iblon at GS39 and to follow this with an application of Prosaro + strobilurin fungicide at GS60-65.

In recent years, growing autumn planted barley crops has been questioned as yields have been declining and the cost of controlling disease increasing. But now, with barley commanding higher prices, the profitability of barley crops has increased.

Last season, Bayer carried out a barley fungicide trial where the yield from a two spray GS32 + GS39 fungicide programme was a modest 6.7t/ha (still a 15.5% increase on the untreated). But because of the increased value of barley, this resulted in a profit of $240/ha (calculated using anticipated increased fungicide costs for spring 2022).

If we were to calculate the profit using the previous season's barley price and fungicide costs, it would have been $45/ha. Clearly the profit delivered by barley is increasing.

Bayer would recommend applying Delaro + Folpet at GS32 and then Prosaro + VIMOY iblon + Folpet at GS39. This is the programme used in the trial discussed above.

Delaro contains prothioconazole and applying this at GS32 will help protect against net blotch, a disease which is becoming an increasing problem. Whether it is wheat or barley, low, moderate, or high yielding crops, fungicides are a key part of capturing the extra value increased cereal prices are delivering.

For more details talk to your agronomist or visit www.cropscience.bayer.co.nz

Words: Neil Waddingham, customer marketing manager, Bayer Crop Science

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Prosaro & VIMOY iblon will help you capture high commodity prices