BOONE, Iowa: With harvest still ahead, many growers are already planning for 2027. At the Farm Progress Show, Brady Spangenberg, Marketing Director for Crop Protection at BASF, said the best place to start is a look back at how this year’s spring went.
“I think the first thing is people forget how condensed that spring window really is,” Spangenberg said. He pointed to a recent May when suitable fieldwork days were scarce, with only four in the month. Growers whose programs lacked overlapping residuals, or a product with more than three weeks of residual control, ended up with crops competing against weed flushes.
His advice is to audit the program now. “Where did you get stopped out? Where were you just waiting to get back in the field and then you had a cleanup issue?” he asked. Building in multiple modes of action from the start, in both corn and soybeans, is the best protection when the calendar doesn’t cooperate.
Taking the guesswork out of white mold
On new products, Spangenberg highlighted Zorina fungicide, which he said performed well this season in northern soybean country, where white mold pressure is always a question. Zorina pairs boscalid with Revysol, giving growers broad-spectrum disease control and a white mold component.
“It really takes that kind of dance out of it,” Spangenberg said. He added that the product has helped growers in those areas take the decision-making out of late-season crop management.
The other product Spangenberg is watching for 2027 is Voraxor, a new burndown herbicide. It contains two PPO active ingredients: Kixor, which most growers already know, and Tirexor, a newly registered PPO. Burndown, Spangenberg noted, is a space where “generally it’s cheap. Generally it’s older chemistry.” Many growers use the same modes of action for both burndown and over-the-top applications, and he said they will need to start rotating in different chemistries. That, he said, is where Voraxor fits next year.
Proving it in the grower’s backyard
BASF is also expanding its yield challenge, now in its second year. The company places a significant amount of demo product in farmers’ fields and invites them to compare it against their own standard program, whether that is a wait-and-see approach or a multi-pass system.
“We want to make sure that we can prove it in the grower’s backyard,” Spangenberg said. The company plans to run the challenge again. This season brought consistent but less severe disease pressure, along with more environmental stress, and that combination makes for a useful test.
“You’re going to really need to test those fungicides for how long they control the diseases and how cool they can help keep your crop canopy for these hot nights,” he said.
Growers with questions about the BASF lineup can contact their local retailer or visit BASF online. Spangenberg also encouraged farmers to follow the company on Instagram, where BASF shares its products in action.
***AUDIO*** Hear our conversation with Brady on a recent episode of American Ag Today below:
