BASF acknowledges three new products will arrive in 2012

Officials with BASF touted current items that are available while revealing three new products are scheduled to hit the U.S. market in 2012 during a out-of-doors meeting with a group made up of primarily distributors Wednesday in Palmyra.

One of the new products, a herbicide called Zidua, is due to be registered in November 2011. A fungicide (Priaxor) and an insecticide (Fastac) will be registered in April 2012.

Fastac, which will be targeted for soybeans and cotton, is already being marketed in other parts of the world.

Priaxor will have the ability to both prevent and help cure diseased crops.

“If you like (BASF product) Headline, you will love Priaxor,” said Dennis Belcher, a senior tech service rep for BASF. noting that the new product will be targeted for soybeans, but will also be labeled for corn and wheat.

Zindua, which will be cited for use on soybeans, corn and winter wheat, will be an effective weapon against an assortment of annual broadleaf and annual grass weeds, including waterhemp.

The new products help show BASF’s commitment to ag solutions, even though that facet of the company makes up just 7 percent of BASF’s annual sales. Brad White, a business rep for BASF, told the group that the company will be investing more in its ag solutions division in the years ahead.

Darryl Ferguson, operations support manager, noted that in general it takes from eight to 11 years to develop a new product. The total cost of developing a new product is around $276 million.

“That’s the type of investment BASF makes to prove out a new product,” he said.

The new products being introduced will not necessarily replace any BASF products currently on the market.

“Next year (2012) will be a transition year. Most of what you’re selling today you will have to sell next year,” Belcher told the distributors.