Dow AgroSciences has deployed Enlist field specialists to U.S. cotton fields for more than two years. And in 2017, they will provide cotton growers, ag retailers and applicators with customized application training in an effort to promote sustainability, says John Chase, Enlist commercial leader, Dow AgroSciences.
The Enlist Ahead management resource is available to help cotton growers during the first year of widespread commercial planting for seed containing the Enlist cotton trait. Most of the crop will be planted from Texas to South Carolina, Chase says.
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The purpose is to teach people how to spray the herbicide, target weeds effectively, clean out tanks and avoid drift.
“2,4-D has not been sprayed over the top of cotton before,” Chase says of Enlist Duo herbicide, which contains 2,4-D choline and glyphosate.
For the Corn Belt, the sprayer education is important because the company is hopeful China and the European Union will approve its traited seed, enabling row-crop producers to use the herbicide in the U.S. for corn and soybeans.
Once farmers in places such as Indiana are allowed to apply the chemical, Chase says, Dow wants to ensure such applications can be conducted without harming fields of tomatoes and other crops in neighboring fields.
The training program is endorsed by Save Our Crops Coalition, a group that seeks to protect non-target crops from drifting 2,4-D and dicamba, Chase notes.
