New Research Shows Atrazine Boosts Corn Yields By 600 Million Bushels Per Year
A recent study by Dr. David C. Bridges, agronomist and president of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Ga., shows atrazine increases corn crop yields in the United States by about seven bushels per acre, or more than 600 million bushels per year. In sorghum crops, yields rise by more than 13 bushels per acre with atrazine.
The study’s other key findings include:
- Atrazine benefits field corn farmers up to $2.9 billion annually.
- Atrazine provides irreplaceable benefits to farmers of field corn, sweet corn and grain sorghum, including the following: application flexibility, crop tolerance, weed control and tillage compatibility.
“I’ve spent my life in agriculture, and not just on the academic side of things,” Bridges says. “I grew up on a farm in Georgia and know firsthand about the never-ending labor and constant insecurity that accompany farming. As the price of corn rises, the economic benefits of atrazine become even more pronounced, and it becomes even more important to keeping American farmers competitive. The importance of triazine herbicides to U.S. agriculture cannot be matched. There is simply no other comparable product that offers as many benefits.”
Though atrazine was introduced more than 50 years ago, its importance, along with simazine and propazine, cannot be overstated. In addition to managing weeds, atrazine and its sister triazines are critical to support conservation tillage and no-till practices, which improve soil conservation in row crop production.
Syngenta, the principal registrant for atrazine, provided resources and support for Bridges’ research.
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Arkansas Insect, Weed, Disease Guides Now Available
The three insect, weed and disease publications that Arkansas producers have come to rely upon every year are now available online and in hard copy. They contain recommendations essential to good insect, weed and disease management.
MP44, titled “Recommended Chemical for Weed and Brush Control,” is available in a chapter-by-chapter breakdown online at www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/HTML/MP-44.asp.
The MP44 gives detailed information about effective chemical control options for weeds and brush, including product names, chemical formulations and application rates and methods.
M144, “Insecticide Recommendations for Arkansas,” can be found at www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/HTML/MP-144.asp. The Arkansas
MP144 recommendation guide offers a broad range of recommendations for field crops, fruit and nut production, vegetable and also flower production and livestock. MP154 “Arkansas Plant Disease Control Products Guide” is available online at: http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/HTML/MP-154.asp.
The MP154 has chapters that cover major field crops such as corn, cotton, soybeans, sorghum and rice, but also turf, fruit trees, tomatoes, canola and peanuts.
All three recommendation guides are available free of charge as PDF files at www.uaex.edu.