b"Dont Hoard Chemicals AmidSupply Chain CrunchRising prices may have you wanting to stockpile on chemicals, but experts say it wont help in the long run.Ashley RobinsonON THE WEBSUPPLY CHAIN ISSUESand infla- WHERE tionary pressure have costs are on the rise for chemicals this spraying season. And while you may be tempted to stock-pile, worried that costs will keep climbing, experts are cautioning against filling up the shed. We don't actually know that prices are going to continue going up forever. And when prices do peak, I would be con-cerned that farmers are holding chem-istry that is higher than the price of the production or the price that the commod-ities are selling for, says Michelle Klieger, the president and founder of Stratagerm Consulting, on the July 13 episode of Seed Speaks.She adds inflation is a self-fulfilling prophecy. When people panic buy think-ing prices will go up, prices go higher, and product shortages start happening.Want to watch the full episode? Visit:www.youtube.com/watch?v=McpMrSG22E4 Chemical costs have been on the rise though, and Logan Romines points out this has been in part due to the supply chain crunch affecting all industries.production costs from field to market, heand will find ways to reduce their demand Across the board costs are increasing foradds. Commodity prices spiked in 2021for chemicals. She says farmers should the parts needed to make products. and have held on so far in 2022, which istake lessons from this year, such as how There's various innards that go inhelping to make the equation profitable. they innovated, what changes they make, these products that we're competing withWhen input costs are increasing, thewhich treatments worked for them, and other industries for, paint, plastics, whatbest thing a grower can do historically hasremember them moving forward.have you. A lot of the innards that go intobeen to grow more bushels on that acre.It's hard to make behavioral changes, those products are similar innards thatThey've got a bushel their way out ofit's hard to try new things, when every-go into chemical products that a growerincrease input costs, particularly with thething is moving at status quo because may use on his or her field, Romines,fungicide. If we can make that math equa- we're comfortable, Klieger explains. Syngentas product lead for fungicides,tion work, we're actually able to lower ourBeing aware that it's not always going explains during the episode. overall cost of production on that acre byto be like this, we do have really short Before buying any chemicals, farmersgrowing more bushels, Romines says. memories about when prices were other should sit down and figure out the totalKlieger adds producers are resourcefulthan what they are today.SWOCTOBER 2022SEEDWORLD.COM /33"