A January 4 article on Agpro details how the Food Machinery Corporation (FMC) is developing an herbicide that contains both a new active ingredient and a new mode of action (meaning a functional change at the cell level of an organism exposed to a substance). This will give growers an advantage against weed pests, because none of them have been exposed to the chemical before, circumventing the problem of herbicide resistance.
“When we say new mode of action, it means there’s not a product on the market today for that crop or that use,” says Kathy Shelton, FMC vice president and chief technology officer. “We have one molecule in our pipeline today that doesn’t have a name yet that focuses on rice, against grasses mainly, and we’re looking in that chemical group for new molecules that would be effective in corn and soybeans.”
Read the full article here.
