b'Its Time to Talk aboutSeed Treatments JIM SCHWEIGERT PRESIDENT, GRO ALLIANCEWITHOUT EARLY PROTEC- a customers field. Our customers @jim_schweigert TION,growers risk a crophave been dealing with pests forjim.schweigert@groalliance.comGroAlliance.comimpacted by unseen insect orlonger than most of us can remem-disease, and often when the optionberIve even had one customer to replant is dwindling. The strongtell me that he remembers days foundation and early protectionwhen there wasnt a product or a growers crop needs starts withmanagement strategy available to seed treatment. combat wireworms in spring andCrisis Communication Starts With so many different pestswinter wheat fields. Because of and diseases popping up in thethat, they were just throwing dartsBefore the Emergencyfield, its important to talk to yourand hoping they could hit a bull-customer about the benefits aseye. And its not just wireworms,THE MOST ANNOYINGpart of air travel, at least treatment can provide as part ofeither. In the 60 million soybeanfor me, is listening to the seemingly endless preflight the best integrated pest man- acres in the U.S. impacted by SCN,announcements. How to buckle the seat belt, where the agement (IPM) plan. In fact, theonly one quarter is protected by alife vest is, how to follow the lights to the exitHasnt American Seed Trade Associationnematicide.everyone on this plane heard this a hundred times?just launched a web page on howEvery grower gets a choiceBut, there is a lesson to be learned here. The treated seeds are a proven solutionsin field management, but its upchances of an in-flight emergency are infinitesimal. Yet for sustainable crop production. to us as crop protection compa- on every flight, the exact same message about what to Two of the top issues werenies and product distributors todo during that unlikely emergency is covered in detail.seeing in fields across the U.S. wherehelp educate growers during theThis is how businesses should handle crisis commu-a seed treatment can really helpdecision-making process. Withnication. The reason is that when something goes unex-are soybean cyst nematode (SCN)seed treatments, growers havepectedly wrong, cool heads from everyone involved are and cereals wireworm damage.seen improved seedling emer- critical. The team needs to know exactly who should Currently, soybean cyst nematode isgency, stand and health, betterdo what. Who talks to the employees, whats the chain present in nearly all soybean geog- targeted crop protection, whichof command, wheres the safe place for employees raphies and is the leading cause ofreduces spraying applications andto gather, who talks to the authorities, who fields any soybean yield loss in North Americamaximizes crop yield potential.questions from the media, whats the company socialin 2020, the SCN CoalitionWith our two productsILEVOmedia policy on an emergency situation? reported that SCN reduces yieldseed treatment to combat SCN (andNobody wants to be working out these details while by 5.1 bu. per acre. In comparison,SDS) and Teraxxa seed treatmenta building is on fire, an employee is seriously injured, heavy wireworm pressure can causeto combat wirewormsweve seenor an accident has just occurred, because a quick as much as 50% yield loss in wheat. first-hand how they can give a fieldresponse is key. Also, in todays world, its likely there Theres no reason either of thesea jump on devastating pests. will be at least one cell phone camera recording it.two unseen pests should be ruiningWere not working in early daysMy recommendation is that some of the basics of anymore where pests can ruincrisis communication be worked into your companys fieldstheres proven researchannual planning meetings and during seasonal meet-that shows how seed treatmentsings like pre-planting and pre-harvest. Events like fires, can help protect row crops anddangerous weather, severe employee injuries and acci-reduce yield loss come harvest. Aredents that involve an employee away from the facility you showing your customers thearent likely, but they are certainly possible.ROI data? Talking about the response, clearly defining who does what and making sure that the communication is open, transparent and frequent will help keep as much order and calm during a crisis as possible.REBECCA NOBLE While we are all going to be stuck listening to the REGIONAL ACCOUNT TEAM LEAD,safety speech on flights for the foreseeable future, SEED TREATMENT, BASF we can take some solace in the fact that making sure Rebecca.noble@basf.com everyone hears the same message and knows what to agriculture.basf.us/crop-protection/use-areas/seed-treatment.html docould actually save our life one day.SEED ASSOCIATION OF THE AMERICAS 2022SEEDWORLD.COM /19'