Brazilian Senators have called for the speeding up of the approval process for fungicides to combat Asian soybean rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi). Incidences of rust cost Brazilian farmers $1,500 million in the most recent harvest, the Senate’s agriculture commission heard earlier this month, Senator Blairo Maggi notes. That equates to some 40 million tonnes in lost production. Three Senators at the commission called for speedier registration processes, suggesting that the three registration ...

FMC has been granted re-authorisation in Brazil of its fungicide, Locker (BASF’s kresoxim-methyl + Bayer CropScience’s tebuconazole + carbendazim) with a higher toxicology classification. It has passed from grade III (indeterminate component of concern) to grade II (medium level of concern). Gradings rise from lowest at grade IV to most toxic at grade I. Locker is for the control of foliar diseases on soybeans. The fungicide is to be re-launched immediately following state re-authorisations, ...

In the first four months of 2013, seven Chinese pesticide companies were granted domestic registrations for the fungicide, azoxystrobin. The active ingredient came off patent in 2010 and an increasing number of Chinese manufacturers of technical and formulated pesticides have since been awarded pesticide registrations, reports the China Crop Protection Industry Association (CCPIA). The fungicide was originally developed by Syngenta legacy company Zeneca. The first approval for a Chinese ...

The Brazilian Senate’s agriculture commission will hold a public hearing in May to discuss delays in the approvals of fungicide products for the control of Asian soybean rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi). It has set May 9th for a hearing to include representatives from the competent authorities: the national health surveillance agency, the Anvisa, and the environmental agency, the Ibama. The hearing will also take evidence on the socio-economic impacts of the disease on Brazil’s soybean sector.

Chinese agrochemical company Zhejiang Wanlong Chemical's fungicide/bactericide, thiodiazole-copper, has been added to a list of official pesticide replacements for high-toxicity pesticides by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The Ministry has included a high-toxicity pesticide replacement project as one of its 19 “key raw material industrial technology improvement projects”. China's pesticide replacement project aims to completely eliminate high-toxicity pesticides, and ...

Bayer CropScience has presented its new fungicide from the “new” pyridinyl ethylbenzamide class, fluopyram. It is a broad-spectrum fungicide for the control of several diseases, including grey mould (Botrytis cinerea), powdery mildew, Sclerotinia spp and Monilia spp on more than 70 crops, Bayer says. They include grapevines, table grapes, pome and stone fruit, vegetables, and field crops. The company expects peak annual sales of more than €150 million ($196 million at the current ...

The European Commission has decided on a restricted re-registration period for the fungicides/bactericides, copper compounds, due to ecotoxicological concerns raised in the EU assessment. Copper compounds will be added to Annex I of the EU agrochemical registration Directive (91/414) on December 1st 2009 for a seven-year period, rather than the standard ten-year period. Monitoring programmes will be initiated and application rates may be capped, the Commission says. Copper compounds were in ...

Syngenta has been granted Italian approval for its fungicide, mandipropamid. The company is to market three products based on the active ingredient alone or in combination with others under the brand name, Pergado, for use against downy mildews. Pergado R Pack consists of the suspension concentrate formulation, Pergado SC (mandipropamid 250 g/litre) packaged with a water-dispersible granule formulation copper fungicide, Coprantol. It is for use on grapevines, potatoes, tomatoes, melons, ...