Nufarm announces a new line of herbicide products that will offer soybean, cotton, peanut and corn growers effective, economical options for controlling herbicide resistant/tolerant weed species at all phases of the growing season. The CATS (Combating Troublesome Species) herbicide line will provide a range of solutions that will deliver control of numerous herbicide-tolerant or -resistant species in soybeans, corn and cotton. 

Studies at the University of Tennessee and others have shown that the rapid spread of herbicide-resistant weeds costs crop producers millions of dollars in terms of additional herbicide inputs, management cost and lost yields. According to a 2011 study by Larry Steckel, assistant professor and row crop weed specialist with the University of Tennessee Department of Plant Sciences, soybean growers in Tennessee were spending an additional $35 per acre to control herbicide-resistant weeds that year, adding up to an estimated $56 million in additional chemical cost statewide. Steckel combined that with an estimated increase in application costs of $8 million plus an estimated $40 million in lost yields, for a staggering total estimated loss of $104 million in Tennessee soybean production alone. 

But crop producers can limit yield loss with smart weed management strategies that include the CATS herbicide solution platform, according to Bob Bruss, technical services manager with Nufarm.

"The key to managing resistant weeds is to use multiple modes of herbicide action at different times," says Bruss. "Nufarm's CATS solutions platform will provide an easy way for growers to do that."

Base herbicides in the CATS line include PANTHER, a pre-emergent, residual herbicide for broad-spectrum weed control in corn, cotton and soybeans, and CHEETAH, a non-selective herbicide with a unique mode of action. Various combinations of these brand herbicides with other active ingredients will be introduced for the 2014 growing season and beyond

"For the 2014 season, we're very excited about CHEETAH MAX," says Jerome Kovar, row crop marketing manager for Nufarm. "CHEETAH MAX provides an effective combination of fast knockdown and residual control that make it a great fit in a wide variety of weed management strategies."

Nufarm officials say CHEETAH MAX is the fastest, most broad-spectrum burndown plus residual control of any herbicide available. Fields treated with CHEETAH MAX will benefit from fast, complete weed control that will provide a foundation for better planting conditions, keep fields clean up through early post-emergence applications, and ensure optimum yield potential, all while inhibiting the development of herbicide-resistant weed populations.

Bruss adds that extensive university testing proves that CHEETAH MAX controls glyphosate-, PPO, HPPD- and ALS-resistant waterhemp, Palmer amaranth and marestail.

"Of all of the herbicide-resistant weed species in the entire country, these three are the most widespread and cause the most economic injury to crop producers," Bruss says. 

CHEETAH, CHEETAH MAX and PANTHER will be available for the 2014 growing season, with more CATS herbicides to follow for 2015. For more information, visit Nufarm.com/us/CATS.