Finding ag chemicals that have the same active ingredients at lower costs is an important strategy to use when looking to reduce your input spending.
Identifying lesser-known products with the same active ingredients can reduce your chemical costs, but identifying which products (and in what concentrations) will have the same effect on your pest can be challenging.
When looking for an alternative ag chemical product, the first thing to know is the active ingredient in the product you’re hoping to replace.
You’ll find this information on your chemical label. If you’re looking for a Touchdown® replacement product, you’ll be looking for an alternative product that contains glyphosate.
Glyphosate is an off-patent molecule (actually, 77% of all ag chemicals are off-patent) which means that there are many branded and generic equivalents on the market.
These products will fall into two general categories; products that have the same active in the same concentration, and products that have the same active in different concentrations.
Touchdown® is a 3 lbs. glyphosate product, which has the same active ingredient at the same concentration as Alecto™ 41-S and Abundit™ Extra. FBN
SM
data suggests that farmers pay $6 more per gallon on average for Touchdown® than Abundit™ Extra, and around $3 more a gallon for Abundit™ Extra than Alecto™ 41-S.
That means a farmer switching from Touchdown® to Alecto™ 41-S might save $9/gal on average while still getting the weed-killing power of a 3 lbs. glyphosate.
Other products may have the same active ingredient but at different concentrations than the product you’re looking to replace.
When considering Roundup PowerMax®, you may be interested in switching to Alecto™ 41-S, which contains 3 lbs. of acid equivalent of glyphosate as opposed to PowerMax®’s 4.5 lbs.
These two products are not direct substitutes, but by comparing the labeled application rates, you can adjust accordingly.
Knowing labeled application rates are the key to effectively using products with the same active at different concentrations.
When in doubt, reading the product label is critical to understanding product differences.
Within the FBNPrice Transparency tool in yourFBN account, you have access to lists of both Same Active, Same Concentration and Same Active, Different Concentration on each of hundreds of ag chemicals to help you identify products that will help you achieve the same results while saving money.
Still have questions about the effectiveness of equivalent products or ingredients in generics? Check out Understanding Branded vs. Generic Ag Chemicals.
Abundit and Touchdown are a trademarks of a
Syngenta Company.
PowerMax is a registered trademark of
the Monsanto Company.
Alecto is a trademark of
Ritter Chemical LLC
. National Average Prices/Gallon were derived from the FBN Price Transparency tool on July 13th, 2016.