The Spraying Puzzle – Putting Together the Pieces to Boost Fungicide ROI

Fungicide application can be a critical step in any growing season. But like any investment, you get the most out of your fungicides when you follow best practices.

For Troy Basaraba, a Manitoba-based Market Development Representative at Bayer, boosting your fungicide ROI involves implementing both a short- and long-term strategy. To help growers get the most out of their crop protection investment, Basaraba shares the considerations he builds into his fungicide strategy.

Short Term – Fungicide Choices and Application

First, Understand the Problem

“When you start looking at fungicides or crop protection in general, there are a whole host of factors that influence product performance,” Basaraba says.

“The big one is knowing your enemy,” he adds. “For example, if you have a wheat crop, it’s important to understand what diseases you’re going after. Are you going after leaf spot diseases like tan spot or is your focus on fusarium head blight? Knowing your enemy will help determine your application timing and product choice.”

Using fusarium in cereals as an example, ask yourself:

1. Have you had major issues with fusarium in the past?
2. Is your wheat variety susceptible to fusarium or is it moderately resistant?
3. What are the weather conditions and are they conducive to manifesting crop disease?
4. What is your crop rotation and how often are cereal crops in that rotation?

Once you have answered these four questions, you have started to build a foundation to make fungicide product and timing decisions.

Local Bayer representatives are a strong asset at this stage, especially with the local data they can provide. Other assets include the Bayer fungicide selection tool or the provincial fusarium risk modelling tools which are publicly available. Similarly, the Canola Council of Canada has a Sclerotinia Stem Rot Risk Checklist that Basaraba recommends utilizing. Colette Thurston, a Market Development Agronomist with Bayer, also shared her key factors that inform key fungicide decisions.

Scout Effectively

“Boots on the ground are the most pivotal resource with crop protection,” Thurston says. “If you don’t know what your crop is doing, your crop protection strategy will be less than ideal. As much as I love the 60-mile an hour drive by, a five second walk into the field tells you so much more.”

Basaraba also supports consistent and comprehensive scouting, since implementing solutions basis field scouting can make the difference between a positive fungicide ROI and a disappointing result.

“It’s important to scout comprehensively, to protect your crop from threats that might not be top of mind,” Basaraba says. “Even if you’re just targeting fusarium, there are still a lot of other leaf diseases to consider, such as Septoria leaf spot.”

“Rust is another big one in my area,” he adds. “Rust blows in from other regions, so it is very weather-dependent. If you get a rust infection, you better deal with it ASAP, as it can take a toll very quickly. Many crop diseases can ramp up quickly, so I recommend multiple scouting checks.”

Like Thurston, Basaraba agrees that a personal touch can make all the difference. “You won’t be able to see these issues from the road,” Basaraba notes, “so having someone such as yourself, an agronomist, a crop scout, Bayer personnel, or even a summer student walk into the field regularly is extremely important in determining the severity of the problem and the best application timing and path forward.”

Finding Optimal Application Timing

Basaraba says questions around application timing are some of the most common questions he receives every year. “Growers come to me wondering when they should go in or when is the optimal time to spray especially given some short application windows.

“Most fusarium fungicide product labels state that application timing begins when 75% of wheat heads on the main stem are emerged to when 50% of them are in flower. Generally speaking, that led many to believe that there was a 2–3-day application window,” Basaraba notes. “Bayer did a handful of trials a few years ago to specifically look closer at application timing across a range of 6-7 days.”

“What we found was that our label timing statements were bang-on. We in fact found that the best and most consistent level of yield protection was when fungicide was applied when the wheat head was extended up from the flag leaf and just starting to flower. That being said, we still also found significant yield and quality protection at both the early head emergence timing as well as late flowering timing. All three application timings provided extremely good return on investment”

“While that first flower timing is optimal, you really actually have a 6–7day window from wheat heads just emerged to fully flowered. That means if the sprayer breaks down, or you’re backed up on fieldwork or if weather stops you from going in, there is still time to spray.”

Accurately assessing crop stage is an area where Basaraba recommends being especially careful.

“It’s really a bit of a dancing act,” he says. “Fungicides work best when they are applied preventatively. Many fungicides have a limited curative effect, meaning they cannot undo disease damage that has already taken place effectively. We want to make sure we protect most of the emerged heads. But that needs to be balanced with spraying early enough to set up a barrier of protection for when fusarium spores spread. That’s why consistent, comprehensive scouting is so important.”

Long Term – Set up your Fields for Successful Crop Protection

Fungicides are only one part of your annual crop protection plan, and any of those decisions are more effective when supported by a strategy. Basaraba says, “Your crop protection strategy is going to be stronger if it does not just rely on your short-term fungicide decision. Here are some longer-term strategies to consider.

Consistency and Residual Protection

“At Bayer, we’ve talked a lot about the fusarium threat recently because of the dry weather cycle we’ve been in,” Basaraba says. “A lot of growers are wondering if it’s too dry for a fungicide application.”

“But in field scale grower trials over the last 6 years, we have found that a fungicide application at optimal first flower head timing to tackle fusarium and other leaf diseases has still generated a positive net return. The response is not as pronounced in dry years compared to high moisture years when disease cycles run rampant.” But the return on investment is still there.

Basaraba sees this mindset reflected in the market. “Where I am in Manitoba, a lot of growers are annually penciling in and budgeting for a cereal fungicide application. One grower put it to me best, saying: “Even in lower disease years, maybe I’m breaking even, but over the long term, I know this is putting money in my pocket.”

Basaraba very much agrees with that grower statement: “I value this mindset because it’s true. Crop protection is not a one-and-done application; it’s a long-term strategy. The value of annual fusarium fungicide application is that even during drier years, growers are reducing the fusarium inoculum that goes back into the dirt.”

Crop Rotation

Basaraba adds: “From a long-term standpoint, growers are best served when looking at crop protection more holistically. Your strategy should go beyond crop protection product choice and application timing. One piece of the puzzle is crop rotation.”

“There are lots of areas in Western Canada, for example, which rotate between wheat and canola. With fusarium, rotating between wheat and canola will leave a farm with a susceptible host ever two years. By rotating to other crops such as pulses, a grower can delay the susceptibility window, lowering the impact of fusarium and other fungal diseases in cereals.

“A 2-year rotation is not as effective when it comes to reducing the threat of fungal disease. A 3-year rotation with cereals, oilseeds and pulses is much more strategic.”

Seed Choices to Support Fungicide ROI

Basaraba recommends considering crop protection when making key seeding decisions.

“As you increase your rotation to spread out the time between susceptible hosts, it’s best to go back with a variety that has a really strong resistance level to the disease you are targeting.”

Seeding rate is also a top consideration, due to its effect on achieving crop consistency to make decisions on ideal application time easier. “Over the last ten years, we’ve seen a real trend of increasing seeding rates. This means you get more plants per square foot, making your crop staging more consistent. If you can get your staging more consistent across your field, it is easier to target your timing.”

Given the above short- and long-term strategies and utilizing industry expertise like agronomists and Bayer field personnel, growers have a lot of resources available to them to build a long-term crop protection strategy. With a long-term focus that focusses on crop rotation, farm economics, and proper crop protection strategies, growers can set themselves up for long term positive ROIs on their crop protection investments.