Josh Putman, Technical Marketing Manager for Corn Herbicides with BASF joins us at the NFAB Convention for a conversation about the brand new Liberty ULTRA Herbicide.
Q: I know (there’s) a brand-new product registration, Liberty ULTRA herbicide. I know when we talked to Farm Progress show, you guys had another great product with Surtain. Liberty ULTRA is kind of the news here at Trade Talk. Tell us about it.
JP: Yeah, so I’m really excited to be standing here today to talk about the next generation of Liberty, if you will, and that is Liberty ULTRA Herbicide.
We received US EPA registration a month ago, so in October, and the states are now trickling in. In fact, where we stand here today in Missouri, we received the state registration. Several other states, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, they’re all starting to trickle in.
The one difference about this product is two things. The Liberty Lock formulation and the Glu-L Technology with the Liberty lock formulation that is offering better weed control. Basically, what it does is it helps lock and disperse the AI on the leaf surface, ultimately getting three times more herbicide into the plant.
With the Glu-L Technology, what we’ve been able to do is make the product more active. So within a gallon jug, there’s more active isomers in that jug and we can decrease the rate. We decrease the rate by 25%, which is still equally as active as the standard rate in Liberty 280.
So those two concepts, the one thing to keep in mind about this new herbicide, Liberty ULTRA Herbicide, is preserving the technology.
So when we think about starting with a good residual program and following that up with an extremely good post program products like Zidua Pro and soybeans, and then following that up with a Liberty Outlook or a Liberty Zidua SC herbicide Pass. Layering in those residuals is important for holding weeds back, especially what we saw in 2024.
Q: And that’s a great point. I was just going to say as we wrap up 2024, look ahead to next year, a lot of guys and gals are making those seed input decisions. They’re making that plan now for next year with an emphasis on commodity prices, where they’re at and the cost of inputs.
So why is it important to look at a great herbicide like Liberty ULTRA or any of the other great products out from BASF?
JP: What we heard of 2024 was extremely positive feedback from the field. Soybean and corn yields were coming out of the field just at a fantastic level. Actually, some record highs from what I had heard. And so ultimately when choosing products from BASF, what we offer is an overall start to finish to the program.
Whether it’s a seed treatment like ILEVO, a Nurizma insecticide for corn rootworm control, then our residuals such as Surtain, which we had really tremendous amount of success with this year in our corn, and then our overall just the whole herbicide portfolio, multiple modes of action maintaining those yields, building the program to ultimately protect that corn or crops true genetic yield potential.
Q: Josh, if folks want to learn more about Liberty ULTRA, Surtain or any of the other great products from BASF, how can they get more info?
JP: You can visit our website, or one thing that I always recommend is getting ahold of your local business reps. Your local business reps or tech reps is the clear path to a clear answer.
