Market dynamics

Many factors determine how much and what pesticides superintendents will buy

Weather, the environment, budgets, turfgrass variety and disease all affect what pesticides golf course superintendents will buy and use and how much they use. Their decisions also will impact the future of the pesticide market in the golf industry.

The hot weather pattern the country experienced this summer put pressure on many superintendents to keep turfgrass green and free from disease. That type of pattern is more favorable to pests than turf and can lead to more pesticide use.

“It was a bad summer, and there hasn’t been one this bad in about 10 years,” says Joe DiPaola, Ph.D., golf market manager of Syngenta Professional Products. “Hot, challenging and different weather can lead to more money spent on preventive maintenance of turf. In this weather, if a disease gets out of hand, it will be rampant. Instead of more preventive treatment, other superintendents will do more spot treatment, but you need more people for that.”

Because of the hot weather, Bayer Environmental Science sold more fungicides to superintendents this summer than last, according to Mike Daly, director of marketing, green.

“We’re in a weather-related business,” he says. “The last couple of years experienced pretty good turf-growing weather in the summer. But this summer, hot weather combined with rain made it difficult to maintain turf.”

Budgets, too, influence how many pesticides superintendents buy and apply, but they don’t seem to be too restrictive.

“There are a lot of misconceptions that there are tons of pesticides being applied, when in reality, superintendents want to use just enough to control the disease because of budgets,” Daly says. “They want to use only what’s needed. When budgets are tight, the one thing you can’t have happen is to have turf on the course not look its best. Superintendents won’t say, ‘I’m going to let it go.’ There are limitations to what superintendents can do, but it’s not an option to say to management ‘Let’s not spend money on maintaining the turf.’”

In addition to weather and budgets, new turfgrass varieties can make pesticide applications more complex.

“Each time a new cultivar is introduced, you set yourself up for new disease problems,” says Doug Houseworth, Ph.D., turf and ornamental technical service research and development manager for Arysta LifeScience. “Take Crenshaw Bermudagrass. That was the hottest thing going, but it was susceptible to dollar spot. With cool-season grasses, you have fescue, rye, bent, blue and Poa. There are a half a dozen species you have to deal with.”

Registration
In addition to what influences superintendents when applying pesticides, there are other market dynamics that will affect what superintendents will be able to purchase and from whom.

The pesticide registration process is the same for all pesticides, according to Brian Steinwand, ombudsman, biopesticide division, office of pesticide programs at the Environmental Protection Agency. He says the only difference is the data that’s needed by the EPA to register a product. If a company wants to register a generic product, it’s free to approach the original registrant after the patented product has been on the market for 15 years to let the original registrant know it wants to bring to market a me-too product. Then the two companies negotiate for the purchase of the data needed to register a me-too product. The original registrant then can allow or deny the purchase of the data. Multiple companies can register similar products.

After 15 years, a pesticide has to be reregistered so the EPA can find out what has changed in the market and what was learned about the product during that time.

Another aspect of registering a pesticide is the fee charged. Up-front fees can range from $4,000 to $40,000, according to Steinwand. The fee guarantees a timeline of when a pesticide will be reviewed and takes the guessing out of registration. There’s also a registration data fee, and an annual maintenance fee for all registered pesticides.

What’s in store
Aside from registration, turfgrass research and distribution also factor in to what’s available for superintendents.

Scott Eicher, senior product marketing manager for herbicides for Dow AgroSciences, says there’s a better public perception of granular pesticides because they don’t drift. Also, there’s less exposure compared to liquid pesticides, and they don’t require posting notification.

“Golf tends to be a sprayable market, especially with fungicides, but, in the short term, we may see more of a shift to granular with insecticides and herbicides if it fits a program,” Eicher says. “But it won’t go 100 percent to granular.”

Long term, Eicher says scientists are working on insect-resistant turfgrass by finding a gene in one plant that’s tolerant to glyphosate and taking that gene and making it part of the genetic makeup of another plant so that trait will be found in the seed the plant produces. But a variety like that might not be available for another five to eight years.

Additionally, service from distributors is becoming more important as golf courses carry less inventory, even though most carry an emergency supply, according to Bill Brocker, v.p. of marketing for PBI Gordon Corp.

“Most courses don’t want to store chemicals,” he says. “There’s a growing concern about the toxicity of the products, especially with handling by employees and transferring anything on to the golfer.”

Overall, superintendents are managing golf courses to benefit the environment and the people who use them, and pesticides are a part of that.

“It’s not just the products used, but it’s how they’re used so they have the least affect on the environment,” Eicher says.

In the end, pesticides are part of improving the golf course business.

“Superintendents realize they’re in a competitive market, so they’re doing everything within their budgets to give golfers the optimum conditions because it helps bring back golfers,” Brocker says. GCN