22 RVC Insights Spring - Flipbook - Page 8
Crop Protection business
remains upheaved
Dustin Hoeft, Agronomy Business Manager
For the foreseeable future, supply chain issues and supply constraints will
upheave the crop protection business. So, what challenges and opportunities lay
ahead that could affect your operation in 2022?
The Challenges
The supply chain in agriculture faces supply constraints, which have
never been experienced before. There is not an endless supply of
common crop protection products that have been used for years, such
as atrazine, 2,4-D, clethodim, glyphosate (Roundup), and glufosinate
(Liberty). Many of the active and inert ingredients needed to produce
these products have been affected by world events this past year.
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused an influx of issues across the
board. Manufacturing plants have had shut down because of employee
outbreaks, and seaports have shut down because of single workers
receiving a positive test. Transporting products from China to the United
States has bottlenecked and is causing severe delivery delays.
Mother nature has caused its share of challenges this past year. The
crippling cold last winter in the southern United States resulted in
temperatures that most manufacturing facilities in those areas were
not designed to handle. Many facilities sustained damage that took
months to repair. (Most of us know how frustrating a frozen waterer is
on a bitterly cold day in the Midwest and the damage it can cause if not
thawed quickly. Just imagine thousands of feet of pipe freezing and
bursting!) It took weeks and months to get those facilities up and running
again. In August, Hurricane Ida struck the southern coast of the United
States and left its mark as the second most damaging hurricane to ever
make landfall in the US. Sustained winds of 150 MPH destroyed Bayer’s
glyphosate production facility in Luling, Louisiana. The damage shut
down one of the world’s most extensive glyphosate production facilities
for over a month as repairs were made before coming back online.
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