The confirmation of issues with the glyphosate ingredient supply chain has rattled the farming industry this week and added uncertainty for what spring may hold for input supplies.
Another crop protection product that has also been under scrutiny when it comes to availability is glufosinate, also sold as Liberty by BASF.
Mark Shillingford, director of marketing with BASF Canada, says that, for several reasons, Canadian farmers should not be concerned about Liberty availability for 2022.
Part of the reason for the secure supply, he says, is BASF produces Liberty in Canada. The company has made upgrades to its Regina, Sask., facility over the past two years, as well.
“We’re feeling confident in our Liberty supply. We’re preparing to produce more Liberty than ever before,” says Shillingford, in the interview above. “Supplies will be tight, there’s no question about it, but we’re feeling confident based on the amount of supply we’re preparing to produce.”
He adds they’re also feeling confident in seed supplies for Liberty-tolerant canola for the 2022 growing season.
Just one day after this interview with BASF’s Shillingford was recorded, Bayer published a letter, explaining its production of glyphosate would be impacted, at least in the short term, by a supplier’s equipment failure. On February 15, 2022, Bayer sent this statement to RealAgriculture:
“Recently a supplier of a raw ingredient needed to produce glyphosate and Roundup branded ag herbicides at our Luling, Louisiana plant suffered an equipment failure at their plant producing an important ingredient.
Our supplier is on track to restore capacity quickly and we’ve sourced additional raw materials and made other changes in production in the interim to help best manage the situation.
This failure however, and the resulting shortfall in product, will have some near-term impacts on our active ingredient production for glyphosate and supply to Canada. We are working through those challenges and will be communicating volume impacts of our branded Roundup products as soon as possible.”
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