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AGRICHEMICALS
The formula
for success in crop protection
The importance of co-formulants in the development of effective plant protection products,
with insights from the experts at Croda, Oro Agri and Stepan.
The discovery of novel compounds that
protect agricultural crops from pests
and disease is a great headline grabber
– especially those with new modes of
action that might combat pesticide
resistance. However, the discovery of a
novel compound is not enough on its
own – just as important is the work
performed by formulation experts who
make the active ingredient suitable for
use. In fact, one of the biggest
challenges for producers of plant
protection products is not identifying new
products – it is formulating those products
in a way that provides the solutions that
farmers and growers need.
Cracking co-formulants
In order to maximise the effectiveness of
any active compound, it must be
formulated with the goal of better
targeting, penetrating or protecting the
plant at risk of pestilence or disease. This
generally involves the use of co-formulants
– wetting agents, dispersants, emulsifiers
and anti-foaming agents, for example,
are commonly added to pesticide
products or spray mixtures to enhance
their performance and physical
properties. Through expert formulation,
these products can have an amazing
impact on the performance of pesticides
and other agrichemicals.
For example, Renaud Perrin,
Formulation Technical Specialist at
Stepan, pointed out that most pesticide
active ingredients are insoluble in water.
“Upon dilution, they would just form
clumps and they would not reach their
target upon application,” he says. “Take
the classic example of water and oil. If
you mix them together in your kitchen,
they will not blend, no matter how hard
you try. Yet, when you add a little bit of
mustard and elbow grease, you can
easily make vinaigrette!”
Many pesticide active ingredients are
also incompatible with liquid fertilizers,
meaning that they precipitate out on
mixing, clogging spray nozzles and not
reaching their targets upon application
“To address this, Stepan developed
STEPGROW TM CT, a tank mix
compatibility adjuvant which enables
growers to mix more inputs into their
tank, thus reducing water and energy
usage,“ explains Renaud.
Through lengthy trial and error, the
formulator’s work ensures that plant
protection products deliver the best
possible biological activity, while
balancing physical performance, cost,
ease of use, off-target toxicity and longterm
chemical and physical stability
through a range of temperatures.
All this within strict regulatory
requirements. Often overlooked,
formulation is part science, part art – and
it is crucial to the effectiveness of a plant
protection product.
According to Carol Pullen, General
Manager at Oro Agri Europe, “We
believe adjuvants will increase in
importance, to both growers and
pesticide producers.”
This, she says, is because farmers and
growers need additional tools to ensure
the spray hits the target crop, minimizing
drift and optimizing their spray
application. That means that today’s coformulants
need to not only improve
wetting, spreading and penetrating
properties – they should also be
designed to consider UV protection, drift
reduction, re-wetting, masking odours,
drying time (speeding up drying of
morning dew), cleaning of spray nozzles
and preventing clogging.
Martin Shaw, Technology
Development Manager, Croda Europe
Ltd, agrees that the importance of
adjuvants is growing, citing growing pest
resistance, regulatory pressures, and a
general lack of pesticides with new
modes of action as factors that are
driving pesticide producers to look at
more complex, multi active systems that
optimise the efficacy of available plant
protection products. However, he notes
that trends for more complex systems
come with challenges of their own,
which can only be solved with the
addition of yet more co-formulants.
“It increases difficulty in developing a
stable system,” he says. “For example, in
SC [suspension concentrate] formulations,
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