“Just because a given product was cheaper, and it worked for Sid on his golf course or sports pitch, doesn’t mean it will work as well for you!”
The Science of Compliance
Pitchcare visit the Bayer Crop Science headquarters in Germany to discover how products are brought to market.
Report by Laurence Gale MSc L
ike most people these days, we tend to take for granted the choice and selection of professional
pesticide products on the market for the turfcare industry. We rarely care, or understand, the complexities of bringing these products to the market place; however, we are the first to complain about their cost. In essence, what are you paying for?
Well, firstly, we need to understand what to expect from a given product; what are the active ingredients, its mode of action, application rates and window of use? These, together with many other factors, will determine the choice of product along with how the chemical can be applied to its target. The equipment you are using may not be ideal for a given product; it is imperative to check that the sprayer is operating at the recommended spraying rates and operating pressure. It is also important to calibrate the performance of the equipment being used. You could find yourself applying too much or too little product to your turf or pest, which will, inevitably, reduce the chances of getting the right end result.
Some products may retail at a similar price or offer what looks like the same performance. It is not until you look closely at the product details which reveal that, for example, one
provides 2.5gm of product added to 5 litres of water and covering the same area 100 square metres, whilst the other uses 15gm of product in 5 litres of water to cover the same area. Just because a given product was cheaper, and it worked for Sid on his golf course or sports pitch, doesn’t mean it will work as well for you! You need to assess each and every problem on its own merit and use the best product available, irrespective of cost. Remember, manufacturers have invested millions of pounds to find you a solution; heed their advice and use the most effective product that suits your circumstances.
When you look behind the scenes, and see the extraordinary amount of time taken to bring many of these products to market, then you can understand why they cost so much. The size, scale and colossal investment the chemical companies make into research and development of new products is nothing short of mind blowing. It often takes up to eight years and one to two hundred million pounds to get a single new product through the system. Paul Clifton, Head of Environmental Science, at Bayer CropScience UK & Ireland and James Hadlow, Technical and Marketing Manager for Environmental Science, at Bayer CropScience, invited Managing
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