Atrazine: legendary marketing of a legendary molecule.

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Shortly after it received its first U.S. registration in 1958, agriculture producers, crop input retailers and university researchers hailed the new herbicide atrazine as miraculous. For relatively low cost, it eliminated the time- and energy-consuming task of mechanically cultivating weeds, a tedious activity that required up to four trips across the same field during the growing season.

Nearly 50 years later, the product continues its splendid ways. It is still the most widely used herbicide by corn and sorghum growers, being applied on more than 70% of their acres. It has also become the most widely used corn herbicide in conservation tillage and no-till systems, which can reduce soil erosion by as much as 90%, and is a key tool for farmers meeting the increasing demands for food and alternative fuel.

"We couldn't farm without it," one prominent Iowa-based crop input retailer reports. "The product consistently does what we need it to do--control yield robbing weeds--at a low and affordable price."

Discovered in the early '50s by researchers at a Syngenta legacy company, atrazine's story is a tale of excellence that includes many firsts for the crop protection industry in marketing, sales, product development, post-patent strategies, and environmental stewardship.

Frank Knight, Syngenta Herbicide Brand Mgr, says the product has stood the test of time because "atrazine offers an exceptional combination of crop safety and application flexibility.

"As the herbicide market has evolved over the years, atrazine has continued to fit every step of the way. It worked when post applications were the standard; went along with the shift to pre-plant incorporated and pre-emerge; fit with the popularity of premixes; and had a role with the fairly recent introduction of glyphosate-tolerant crops," Knight explains.

Knight joined Syngenta legacy company Ciba-Geigy as a Field Sales Rep nearly 33 years ago and has been associated with the marketing and sales of atrazine for his entire career. Virginia-raised, Knight graduated from Virginia State University with a B.S. in animal science with a double major in chemistry. He began his career as a County Extension Agent.

PRODUCT ENHANCEMENTS AND EXTENSIONS

"When atrazine was first introduced," Knight says, "it was at a

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Editor's note: Although there are now several manufacturers of the herbicide atrazine, we chose to focus on the stewardship of the product by Syngenta because the company was its original developer.

time when there weren't many established herbicides. 2,4-D was the main herbicide used in corn and it only controlled broadleaf weeds. In the area I was servicing, 37% of the crop acres weren't being treated with any herbicides and were being intensively tilled.

"So, we had the double advantage of having a new, improved technology that provided longer-term control of both grasses and broadleaf weeds to replace competitors as well as developing totally new markets."

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Within five years of its introduction, atrazine represented the most successful new crop protection product launch in North America at that time.

Knight credits product enhancements the company as the number reason why atrazine continues to be a market leader. For example, the product was originally in the form of a powder, packaged in five-pound bags and was applied at five pounds per acre. However, Syngenta formulated it into a liquid in 1972, and use rates have decreased significantly.

Over the following years, atrazine moved to the forefront of many formulation and packaging innovations including water-dispersible granules, water-soluble bags and, more recently, bulk and mini-bulk handling of liquids for large-acreage applications.

In 1976, Syngenta introducted the concept of pre-mixes when another herbicide, S-metolachlor, was combined with atrazine in a single can and marketed under the brand name Bicep.

"Pre-mixes allowed users the convenience of only having to handle one can and knowing they had the proper mixture of both products," Knight reports.

Atrazine was also facing patent expiration that year. By then, the name atrazine had become the universal term for its class of herbicide (similar to aspirin for pain relief), so the marketing staff went to work and branded it Aatrex.

"That way, customers could distinguish between our products and others, and know that the atrazine they were using came from the company they had depended on for all those years," Knight reports.

The merger between Zeneca and Novartis in 2000 created Syngenta and brought new products and modes of action to the market as capabilities were aligned. More products benefited from the addition of atrazine, broadening the control spectrum and/or providing more residual control.

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In rapid order, Lumax, Expert and Lexar were successfully launched by Syngenta.

EFFECTIVE MARKETING

Larry Spickler--now retired from Syngenta and living in Greensboro, NC, home to the North American headquarters of Syngenta--joined Ciba-Geigy in 1973 as a Sales Rep and spent much of his career in marketing and communications positions with the company. He says that Syngenta had an effective marketing program behind the introduction of atrazine.

"In the early days of atrazine, the company hired a lot of new sales representatives--many were former ag teachers--to help educate growers.

"Today, growers understand all about herbicides and weed control and they are smart about the many product options. In the early days of atrazine, however, herbicides were replacing the cultivator and atrazine could set them free from the intensive labor associated with several cultivation trips during the season."

Spickler says all atrazine sales reps had a small tank sprayer, sprayed plots and followed up later with growers to show them the results. After its first couple of years of use, retailers and customers had learned that a shot of atrazine not only controlled weeds, but in doing so, it also produced 20% or better yields.

Repeated studies comparing the crop yields for fields treated by atrazine versus other treatments show that yields for atrazine-treated fields are consistently higher--from 4.3 bushels an acre to as much as 10.8 bushels per acre. Sorghum yields are higher too--an average of 11.3 bushels per acre. And the estimates for the increased yield in sugar cane acreage range from 12% to 50%.

The company supported the product with broad communications programs that touted the improved yields. The company is credited with running the first two-page, four-color spread advertisement in farm publications and being the first crop protection company to include TV in its media mix.

COMPETITORS AND PARTNERS

When the patent on atrazine expired, other companies began manufacturing the herbicide.

Currently, those companies include Dow AgroSciences, MANA, Drexel, United Agri-Products (UAP) and Sipcam. In addition, more than 30 other companies sell atrazine containing products. All told, atrazine can now be found in 45 pre-mix products currently on the market.

Industry sources report that Syngenta also set into motion a new sales strategy that made the product available to other crop protection companies in a variety of ways.

In some cases, it sells the tech product only to others who complete the formulation process and sell it under their brand name. In others, it sells the completely formulated product to other crop protection companies and they pre-mix with their products. And in other cases, it private labels the product for sale under its customers' brand name.

LOOKING AHEAD

"Over the years," Knight says, "the market for atrazine has been consistent and farmers continue to use it to protect their crops, using it at rates that are one-fifth of what they were at introduction."

Knight says he and the others at Syngenta believe atrazine continues to have very good outlook. "First, the corn market looks to be strong for the next several years," he says. "Although the pre-mixes have been declining, tank mixes of atrazine with post-products have made up that difference. Plus, farmers are seeing the importance of including a residual herbicide, like atrazine, with glyphosate applications. Atrazine also continues to receive favorable reviews from regulatory authorities around the world." (See sidebar).

All in all, that's good news for a legendary product that has so ably served our forefathers and today's ag producers, as well as the generation to come.

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUNDBREAKER

Although there are several other manufacturers of atrazine, its original developer and marketer, Syngenta Crop Protection has taken the lead in meeting scientific and regulatory requirements.

Because of its long-time use, atrazine has often been the target of environmental groups and misconceptions concerning the product's safety have been circulated. The truth, however, is that thousands of studies and years of regulatory review have continued to support the safe use of atrazine.

In fact, EPA took the unprecedented step of establishing a Special Review of triazine herbicides, of which atrazine is one, in 1994. That review looked at all environmental safety, human toxicity, water quality and other data pertinent to the re-registration of atrazine and other triazine herbicides such as atrazine.

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In that time, researchers and regulators have concluded that atrazine can be used safely and does not pose a risk to human health and the environment if used according to the label.

"We believe atrazine has to be one of the most studied agricultural products in the world," says Dr. Timothy Pastoor, Principal Science Advisor for Syngenta. Earning his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, Pastoor has more than 25 years of experience doing safety testing of registered products such as atrazine

In June 2006, EPA also studied the the cumulative risks associated with those triazine herbicides and stated that they pose "no harm that would result to the general U.S. population, infants, children or other major identifiable subgroups of consumers." EPA then cleared atrazine for re-registration.

The regulatory process continues, though. Atrazine will be the subject of at least two upcoming Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) reviews that will consider new research on amphibians and human health, while also examining an extensive ecological monitoring system that's been in place since 2004 to protect aquatic life.

"These are science-based studies, so we are able to present our data in an academic setting that will answer many of the final questions concerning atrazine," said Pastoor.

Pastoor is confident the panel reviews will echo many of the findings of other regulatory bodies who have found that atrazine can be used safely. These authorities include the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, the Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority and the European Union.

"Over the decades, as hundreds of pest control chemistries have come and gone, atrazine has passed the stringent tests at the customer, scientific and regulatory levels," Pastoor says. "All the research continues to support the herbicide so we expect it to continue to be a valuable tool for farmers well into the future."

by Lynn Henderson, Editorial Director