Clearfield a giant in the wet

Australia, Wednesday 9 March, 2011- Standing two metres high and with stalks like tree trunks, Clearfield canola has emerged as the stand-out hybrid in a crop trial conducted at a number of sites around Victoria and southern NSW.

Several local growers in the saturated country around Albury took part in BASF’s Clearfield Canola Challenge, to grow the highest gross margin Pioneer Clearfield hybrid canola crop possible.

Nick Ennis, from Howlong, was one.

Nick said his Clearfield crop stayed off the ground in the wet and yielded substantially better than his triazine-tolerant variety.

“It was far and away the best canola on my property,” he said.

“It out-yielded the hybrid TT by 25 per cent and oil content was 6 to 7 per cent better.

“I’m completely sold on Clearfield. It was an excellent result.”

Nick said some of his Clearfield went down in the extremely wet conditions, “but it was table-topping rather than lodging”.

“They were flat, but still sitting well above the ground on the stalks,” he said.

“In contrast, the TT did lodge and, where that happened, it didn’t yield. They were hard to windrow and hard to harvest.”

Further south, Murray Witcombe, from Inverleigh, near Geelong, was impressed with Clearfield’s vigour, after sowing Pioneer 45Y82 and Hyola 751TT side-by-side.

He was even more impressed by the yield figures of 2.76 tonnes per hectare for the Clearfield (compared with 2.29 tonnes for the TT) and oil content of 44.3 per cent (42.6 per cent).

Murray’s gross margin for the Clearfield was $1114.29, compared with $828.59 for the TT.

 “Slugs, earwigs and even birds have always been a problem for crops in this district, though they normally drop away slightly in drier years,” Murray said.

“You need crops that will jump out of the ground to get ahead of the pests and, in this regard, the Clearfield canola was very useful.”

Murray said the Clearfield was sown a week later than the TT, but still grew to normal height and both were windrowed at the same time.

He used Intervix, the herbicide at the heart of BASF’s Clearfield canola technology, at the rate of 650ml per hectare.

“Intervix achieved a very good one-pass weed control,” Murray said.

He added Select for ryegrass control at the same time.

About the Crop Protection division

With sales of 4.0 billion in 2010, BASF’s Crop Protection division is a leader in crop protection and a strong partner to the farming industry providing well-established and innovative fungicides, insecticides and herbicides. Farmers use these products and services to improve crop yields and crop quality. Other uses include public health, structural/urban pest control, turf and ornamental plants, vegetation management, and forestry. BASF aims to turn knowledge rapidly into market success. The vision of BASF’s Crop Protection division is to be the world’s leading innovator, optimizing agricultural production, improving nutrition, and thus enhancing the quality of life for a growing world population.  Further information can be found on the web at www.agro.basf.com or follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/basfagro.

About BASF

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and agricultural products to oil and gas. As a reliable partner BASF creates chemistry to help its customers in virtually all industries to be more successful. With its high-value products and intelligent solutions, BASF plays an important role in finding answers to global challenges such as climate protection, energy efficiency, nutrition and mobility. BASF posted sales of about €63.9 billion in 2010 and had approximately 109,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com or in its Social Media Newsroom at newsroom.basf.com. Visit us on asiapacific.basf.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Slideshare and LinkedIn.