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www.no-tillfarmer.com/articles/13308-trials-suggest-fungicide-use-might-not-be-economical-at-2024-commodity-price-levels
Trials Suggest Fungicide Use Might Not Be Economical at 2024 Commodity Price Levels
May 3, 2024
The advisability of applying fungicides may change this year with lower corn and soybean prices and given recent increases in spending on pesticides (farmdoc daily, April 30, 2024). While the cost of applying fungicides is known, their application introduces two uncertainties: 1) the yield response from using fungicides, and 2) the additional drying cost associated with higher moisture due to fungicide use. These issues are explored in this paper. Overall, average yield responses from fungicide yield trials do not suggest that fungicide use is economical at likely commodity price levels for this year.
Yield Response to Cover Application Costs
Fungicides need to increase yield enough to at least cover material and application costs. This increase also depends on the price of the crop. Using a $40/acre material and application cost based on likely 2024 prices, corn yield needs to increase by 5.8 bushels when corn price is $6.95, close to the 2021 harvest price. At a $4.25 price, near current cash forward bids for 2024 harvest; yield needs to increase 9.4 bushels (see Figure 1). For soybeans, an increase of 3.6 bushels per acre is needed at today’s cash forward bid of $11.00. The yield increase needed to cover only the material cost ($25) is also presented in Figure 1.Uncertain Yield Response
Studies find a positive but highly variable corn and soybean yield response to the use of fungicides. Paul, et al. reported an overall average corn yield response of +3.7 to +6.2 bushels per acre that varied across four fungicide products. Kandel, et al. reported an overall average soybean yield response of +1.6 bushels per acre. These average yield responses are below break-even yield responses at current crop prices. Both of these studies are meta (i.e. summary) analyses of a large number of individual studies: 212 corn studies and 240 soybean studies. Individual studies found yield responses that ranged from negative to large positive. Other consistent findings from field trials include a higher yield response:- the more severe the fungal infection (if infection is low, average response is smaller but still positive),
- the less resistant the seed variety, and
- the higher is precipitation.