Ask The Expert: Croda Delves Into Rainfastness Adjuvants

Ryan McDonald, Applications Team Leader at Croda, discusses rainfastness adjuvants, how these solutions can accelerate confidence in biologicals, and more.

AgriBusiness Global: What factors have accelerated grower interest in rainfastness solutions, and which crops and regions are seeing the strongest demand?

Ryan McDonald: The key drivers behind interest in rainfastness solutions vary between regions, but the overarching trends are the same ones in many agricultural markets: to do more with less, and to meet the requirements of ever-tightening regulations. Anywhere that rainfall can wash away plant protection products, forcing growers to choose between lower yields and costly reapplications, are opportunities for these solutions to shine.

Rainfastness additives are key to formulation performance in many regions where frequent rainfall is an inevitable part of the growing season, with South America and Asia-Pacific beingkey markets where heavy rainfall and high humidity make perfect conditions for weed and fungal outbreaks while presenting challenges for formulations. Many parts of North America also deal with unpredictable summer storm seasons where formulations must maintain efficacy throughout these key growing windows. The European market has slightly different driving forces, where environmental regulations are forcing farmers and formulators to face the challenge of reducing agrochemical runoff into waterways. Alongside these regional differences are the increasingly unpredictable effects of climate change, meaning that traditionally more predictable regions increasingly have a need for adjuvants to use as a “safety net” in the event of an untimely weather event. Target crops, as you may expect, vary by region but cover everything from broad-acre to high-value horticulture, as rainfastness adjuvants have use cases in herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides.

ABG: Is rainfastness becoming a competitive differentiator in the crop input market?

RM: Differentiation through adjuvancy has been a staple in plant protection products for a long time, especially in off-patent actives where the options for manufacturers frequently come down to a choice between differentiation and a race to the bottom on price. Rainfastness adjuvants allow for increased performance in adverse conditions but also can provide broader effective application windows, an important comparison point when choosing between similar products on the shelf. The increased durability offered by rain-resistant products can provide a strong marketing angle for manufacturers trying to convince growers who are already operating on very tight margins. For manufacturers facing costly reformulation due to regulatory restrictions on products entering waterways, improved rainfastness supports more sustainable agriculture while helping protect the long-term viability of their active ingredients.

ABG: Could better rainfastness adjuvants accelerate confidence in biologicals among growers and retailers?

RM: Biologicals are an interesting growth market with their own unique challenges, often having more sensitive performance and benefitting even more than chemical actives from well-matched adjuvant systems, which can maximize their potential while minimizing their variability. Many biological additives benefit from being hydrated to increase their efficacy, making hydration and durability a delicate balance to maintain; a super-wetter may encourage fast drying to secure the formulation to the leaf but may increase run off and reduce availability or efficacy as a result of being dry. Improving the rain resistance of the formulation offers the opportunity for multiple efficacy windows from a single treatment while minimizing wash-off. Biological additives often work through a contact mode of action, and therefore disproportionately benefit from being more strongly adhered to the target crop; increasing contact time and retention on the surface will often boost efficacy with or without a rain event.

ABG: How does your company educate growers about the value of rainfastness adjuvants? What misconceptions about rainfastness do you encounter most often in the market?

RM: Growers have all experienced firsthand the challenges around unpredictable weather and the effect it can have on product efficacy and the resulting impact on final yield, so discussing additives that can be used as insurance against those eventualities is important. Rainfastness can be a confusing topic as there are multiple effects that can be marketed as “rainfastness” with different use cases. In short, any additive that improves the durability of the formulation’s effect in the face of rain can be described as a rainfastness additive; this can include uptake enhancers, stickers, and drying time accelerators. If a grower is using a sticker, which physically binds the formulation to the target, but is expecting it to see the effect through shorter drying time, they will be very disappointed. Discussing the mode of action and why that gives the resulting increase in efficacy is important to ensure that the correct additive type is used with the correct formulation and that performance isn’t incorrectly judged using unsuitable metrics.

ABG: How can companies demonstrate ROI for rainfastness technologies?

The ROIs for rainfastness technologies are spread across a range of different metrics, including cost, efficiency, yield, and sustainability. Increasing the durability of a formulation reduces all costs associated with reapplications, can enable expanded treatment windows or reduced application rates, while also mitigating environmental impact by keeping the active ingredients where they are useful rather than allowing them to wash to where they are harmful. The most straightforward measure of ROI is from the increased yield of the final product despite adverse conditions, which is the most important metric to manufacturers and growers alike.

ABG: What innovations in formulation technology could significantly improve rainfastness over the next five years?

RM: Innovation is happening across all aspects of the agriculture sector, covering the chemical, technological, and biological aspects of plant protection. As a chemical manufacturer, our own developments are focused on providing more sustainable ways to deliver the performance that farmers rely on; delivering equal or improved performance to that of current market-leading technologies without the need to rely on petrochemical-derived microplastic materials. Alongside these innovations, we are also working on delivery systems to allow more versatile usage of existing actives through technologies like encapsulation and nano emulsions. The wider industry is also innovating in precision agriculture and drone delivery, allowing for ultra-low volumes of actives to be delivered exactly where they are needed, when they are needed. Predicting where a market will be in 5 years will always be uncertain, though, with opportunities for game-changing innovations that could subvert those predictions, such as ongoing work on RNA-based active ingredients. The agriculture market has a strong track record of successful innovation in the face of increasing environmental and regulatory challenges, and this will continue to shape plant protection developments over the next five years.

As innovation in rainfastness continues, discover how Atplus^™ Rainfast Pro can help improve rainfastness performance. Find out more.