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Millions of dollars and years of work are required for new chemistry to come to the field.

December 9, 2020

5 Min Read
combine harvesting at night
FALL HARVEST: A farmer works into the night harvesting corn after a successful season of raising crops and controlling weeds. Kennedy Kramer at K Kramer Photography

Bringing a herbicide to market can take over 10 years and millions of dollars. With so many different factors going into getting a herbicide on the market, it can be a challenging process. But the end result is worth it.

The process starts with finding one of about 140,000 different compounds that will actually be effective in the market. According to Bryan Young, professor of weed science at Purdue University, “Having a positive attitude is what it takes to find a successful herbicide.”

Multiple steps are involved, including producing the herbicide, making sure it’s safe, and testing whether it actually has an effect on weeds. These steps can take from year three to about year eight.

“For the herbicide to actually be effective enough to go into market, it has to be able to make an impact on the most problematic weeds in major crop fields, including those resistant to current herbicides,” Young says.

Companies may be working on a herbicide for six years before they submit a registration packet to the EPA. During those six years, companies look into the effects the chemical has on the environment, crops and weeds. They observe and test how it operates. Herbicides are often in greenhouses and field trials for eight years before they hit the market.

Bill Johnson, another professor of weed science at Purdue, says a herbicide needs to fit in the market of a big-acreage crop, such as corn or soybeans. Many herbicides that work in those crops will also be useful for specialty crops, allowing that market to expand.

Screening and testing

Herbicides must go through multiple environmental screens before they’re tested on weeds or crops. Companies want to make sure a herbicide doesn’t hang in the air or ground for a long time, so it does not have long-term environmental effects.

A major impact is if it will be toxic to fish or mammals. If the herbicide is harmful to them, it will not be produced, due to the lasting effects it could have on the environment.

According to Johnson, herbicides are tested on “model species.” Duckweed is often used. Because the plant is commonly found in diverse environments, it gives scientist a bigger picture of the effects a chemical may have in those environments.

process of bringing herbicide to market graphic

After going through this process, companies need to see what weeds the herbicide will work on and if it will be effective against herbicide resistance. A herbicide that doesn’t make an impact on herbicide-resistant weeds isn’t financially worth producing, he says.

Companies then have to consider cost. They must determine how much it will cost to develop a herbicide, and if they can efficiently get it to market. According to Young, if the herbicide will be relatively expensive to produce or there is only a narrow market for it, the company will likely decide not to develop the candidate molecule. If they find that production will be cost efficient, then they will move onto the next steps: determining a budget and finding a market.

Multiple environments

Another reason for the lengthy process of testing herbicides is the desire to observe them in as many different weather conditions as possible. The more conditions you can put the herbicide through, the better companies, growers and universities can judge its results and effectiveness, Young says.

Another benefit is greater awareness of the effects a herbicide may have on the environment and the crop. While extensive testing is done in the greenhouse for each herbicide, there will always be different things that happen when in the field, Johnson says.

Crop safety is important when companies consider registering a herbicide. Can the herbicide work on multiple crops? Are there concerns about carryover to subsequent sensitive crops in the following year? If there is carryover, how long does it last, and what are the effects? If the herbicide has major repercussions after application, growers will not want to use it, Young says. There may be no market for it.

Low use rate

The herbicide use rate is another important factor. Growers and retailers like simplicity when it comes to using herbicides. Lower use rates allow growers and retailers to easily mix spray solutions without taking up a large amount of space or requiring hauling large loads back and forth. Lower use rates also translate to spending less money on manufacturing the product, allowing a larger profit potential.

Each year, the biology team that is producing the herbicide works on their EPA submission packet. Results are also shared with the marketing team. The marketing team tries to determine whether a herbicide can be successful in the market and if they should continue the process.

The biology team also submits updates to EPA, which reviews them constantly through an up-to-12-year process. If EPA has concerns, it will not approve the herbicide. In these circumstances, the decision may be made to stop developing the herbicide and put resources into other candidate herbicide molecules.

The process to bring a herbicide to market is extensive. It takes a lot of time and money to produce and approve a new herbicide. But in the end, developing innovative new technology is how the industry will keep improving and optimizing agriculture to feed the world.

Hire is a senior in agricultural communication at Purdue University.

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