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FOR GROWERS concerned with using atrazine to control weeds on sensitive watersheds, management alternatives are plentiful, says Bill Johnson, Purdue University Extension weed scientist. However, those choices could dwindle significantly if applicators aren't careful to reduce atrazine runoff and avoid triggering a regulatory response from the EPA.
“With atrazine, we're still going down the road of environmental scrutiny,” Johnson says. “The EPA will continue to look at its use in the future, even though they are currently handling this on a watershed-by-watershed basis.”
According to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, atrazine is used to control weeds on approximately two-thirds of all U.S. corn and sorghum acres. Yet, due to ground and surface water concerns, the EPA has registered atrazine-containing products as Restricted Use Pesticides — products to be used only by certified applicators or persons under their direct supervision.
The EPA has currently implemented a “three strikes and you're out” policy on atrazine's use, Johnson says. Under this policy, the EPA could ban atrazine use for an entire watershed if regulators detect atrazine levels that exceed standards for annual averages on three different occasions.
“The state of Indiana has 11 watersheds with one strike against them already, and one watershed — Batesville — has two strikes against it,” Johnson says. “Illinois and Kentucky have a few watersheds with one strike against them as well.”
Application
The good news, however, is that farmers and custom applicators can choose from a variety of products and management practices to ensure atrazine stays away from vulnerable water bodies, Johnson says. One of the key choices to consider is how to apply atrazine.
“If you are in a sensitive watershed, you'd probably want to shift to a postemergence application,” Johnson says. “If you apply postemergence, you can use about half as much active ingredient as a preemergence application and still get the same amount of weed control.”
Fields susceptible to atrazine runoff are typically located in a small watershed, close to surface waters, with soils that are unreceptive to water infiltration, Johnson says. In these sensitive watersheds, farmers and custom applicators should manage their atrazine application practices with extreme care to minimize or eliminate runoff, he advises.
A good starting point is to review herbicide labels and follow the setbacks and best management practices associated with atrazine use. Some key atrazine management practices are to avoid applications on saturated soils just before heavy rains and to avoid applications near surface waters or tile inlets, unless a 30% crop residue cover is maintained or applications are incorporated. Filter strips, buffer strips, grassed waterways and tiling are also effective practices that help to reduce runoff.
“In a sensitive watershed area, you wouldn't want to use high rates,” Johnson points out. “There are lots of broadleaf herbicides to choose from, and most work with a ¾-lb. rate of atrazine. You should also check your state's weed control guide to determine which herbicides work best on which weed species.”
Simplicity and cost
When applicators want to take atrazine completely out of a system, Roundup Ready corn and Liberty corn are good alternatives, Johnson says. “You can choose to control broadleaf weeds without atrazine,” he says, “but the issue is simplicity and cost.”
It typically costs $2 to $4/acre to control weeds in corn with atrazine, whether it's applied preemergence or postemergence, Johnson says. “There are plenty of reasons why farmers would prefer to use atrazine, and to use high rates, if they could,” he adds. “The thing that I like to highlight when talking to farmers is that the simplicity of your herbicide program is greatly reduced when choosing alternative products to atrazine.”
Simplicity of use is just one advantage atrazine has compared to other corn and sorghum herbicides, says Duane Martin, brand manager, Syngenta Crop Protection Services. “It's safe to the crop, cost-effective, and works very well in almost every situation,” he says. “It is also a tool that will be increasingly important for weeds that are becoming resistant to other commonly used herbicides.”
Green light
Atrazine is used on 60 million acres of U.S. corn out of 82 million acres planted, Martin points out. He adds that atrazine has successfully emerged from a 10-year reregistration process, and he predicts that atrazine will continue to be available with very few new restrictions on its use. In fact, when the EPA gave its interim reregistration eligibility decision for atrazine in 2003, it estimated that it would cost farmers $28/acre more to produce corn without atrazine.
“In October 2003, the EPA effectively gave the green light for atrazine's continued use in U.S. agriculture,” Martin says. “By August of 2006, the EPA will do a cumulative assessment of all the triazine herbicides, and we expect that atrazine will be officially reregistered in August 2006.”
The EPA has been very fair in how it is monitoring and regulating atrazine use on a watershed-by-watershed basis, Johnson agrees. “The agency deserves to be complimented on how it has handled it,” he says. “Now it's up to farmers and the industry to prove that they're worthy of the EPA's farmer-friendly treatment.”
EPA's three-strikes policy
THE EPA is currently administering a “three strikes and you're out” policy for atrazine use, says Bill Johnson, Purdue University Extension weed scientist. Here's how it works:
If regulators detect atrazine levels above EPA-established maximum annual averages of 3 parts per billion within a watershed, that watershed goes into an enhanced monitoring program.
If regulators detect atrazine levels that exceed the EPA standards a second time in the same watershed within a five-year period, local watershed officials must develop a mitigation plan that will meet the EPA's approval.
If regulators detect atrazine levels above the EPA's annual limits after the mitigation plan is put into place, the EPA will ban atrazine use within the entire watershed.
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