by Jennifer Marsten, AgFunder.com
Just a couple months ago, Bayer announced what it says is the first novel mode of action for controlling weeds in more than three decades.
The primary purpose of icafolin-methyl is “to bring back the controls that the farmers had at the beginning with glyphosate, and to really complement glyphosate’s efficacy,” Bayer Crop Science’s Dr. Volker Kuehnhold told AgFunderNews.
The announcement of a new novel mode of action comes at a time when weed resistance is top of mind for just about everyone involved in growing food, from farmers to agribusinesses to startups.
Designed to work in tandem with glyphosate (as opposed to replacing it), icafolin “belongs to a new chemical class providing unique properties that allow for lower dose rates and more targeted applications, and is expected to demonstrate an exceptional safety and sustainability profile,” according to Bayer.
Bayer has already submitted registration applications for icafolin-methyl in the European Union, Brazil, the US, and Canada. The company expects a launch in 2028 starting in Brazil.
Dr. Kuehnhold and Bayer colleague Dr. Jens Ackerstaff took time recently to explain more about what icafolin does, why it’s important, and where it fits into Bayer’s overall strategy.
AgFunderNews (AFN): First thing’s first: how does icafolin work, and does it replace glyphosate?
Dr. Volker Kuehnhold (VK): It’s not a replacement of glyphosate, it’s rather a completion of glyphosate. In most cases it will be combined with glyphosate in a sprayer. That’s the basic approach.
Another approach we have in mind, and are investigating is also using a precision application [of icafolin], with a broadcast application of glyphosate at the beginning, and then coming in with targeted application equipment later on to apply icafolin to just the spots that survived.
That approach is not in the market today but will likely increase in the future.
AFN: Why do we need new modes of action for herbicides?
Dr. Jens Ackerstaff (JA): It’s generally becoming more difficult to control weeds and that’s why we need to do it differently.
VK: We have increasing resistance challenges all over the globe. That’s really a huge issue for the farmers, especially in Brazil and the US, because this endangers a no-till system approach. And the no-till system has huge environmental benefits and is super efficient for farmers.
So that’s the primary focus of icafolin: to bring back the controls that the farmers had at the beginning with glyphosate, and to really complement glyphosate’s efficacy.
AFN: How does icafolin actually work?
VK: The weeds are frozen.
With a glyphosate or glufosinate treatment, the weeds die off and disappear within a couple of days. With icafolin, that’s not so much the case. The plants are staying green for a longer period and will stay on the field.
We have to explain to farmers that this is not an issue because the plants are actually dead. They’re not competing for resources with the crop anymore, but they’re still standing in the field, decaying much slower.
We see various advantages in this. First, the leftover weeds act as a mulch layer that actually prevents other weeds from re-emerging. And if you compare glyphosate to icafolin side by side, you very clearly see this. With glyphosate, the field was clean right after spraying, then after two to three weeks, weeds emerged once more.
With icafolin, we don’t have this because we have this mulch layer biomass.
Also, this mulch layer might also actually prevent soil erosion due to rain or wind, and might even help to retain some water in the ground. So that’s a very positive thing, and we think that this in combination with a no-till or reduced tillage approach really shows that this is fitting very well in the Bayer strategy of advancing technology that enables regenerative agriculture.
AFN: Will icafolin eventually succumb to some weed resistance the way glyphosate has?
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