Managing herbicide-resistant weeds can be complicated, but Bayer wants to make the task easier in the 2019 growing season through their newly revamped Roundup Ready PLUS® incentives program.
Scott Burchette, marketing manager for Roundup Ready PLUS, said the steps to receive the maximum amount of program incentives have been simplified for the upcoming crop year and that even more farmers can benefit from those incentives.
“We wanted to make the Roundup Ready PLUS incentives program simpler this year because we want to continue to encourage farmers to increase their use of residual herbicides. Utilizing additional modes of action is necessary because it’s increasingly important that we mitigate the risk of developing more herbicide-resistant weeds in the future,” Burchette said.
To maximize incentives in 2019, farmers need to simply:
- Purchase 32 fluid ounces of a qualifying Roundup® brand agricultural herbicide
- Purchase at least one eligible herbicide and earn $2 per acre
- Purchase 22 fluid ounces of XtendiMax® herbicide with VaporGrip® Technology and earn an additional $2 per acre (for those farmers utilizing the Roundup Ready® Xtend Crop System)
“This year, regardless of the combination of herbicides that a farmer chooses, every acre pays $2 on every rebate-eligible herbicide. They don’t have to do the math — [and] they don’t have to figure out what use rate or chemistry combination yields the most incentives,” Burchette said.
For instance, a soybean farmer who uses both a pre-residual and an over-the-top postemergence herbicide can earn up to $10 in rebates for every 32 ounces of Roundup herbicide applied.
“We continue to refine the chemistry available to farmers, and we continue to select the best-performing and most recognized brands on the market. In addition to the incentives, farmers can expect very high-performing chemistry when they choose the Roundup Ready PLUS platform,” he added.
Obtaining those rebates is a simple process, too. Retailers will submit all purchase information to Bayer on each farmer’s behalf, and then Bayer will direct the rebate money to the retailer who sold the most Roundup. Farmers will be notified when their rebate checks are available for pickup from that retailer and receive a statement summarizing those incentives.
“Not only are the steps simple for farmers to make weed control decisions, there’s very little that we ask them to do, aside from making a purchase. Retailers will do most of the work on behalf of the farmer, and Bayer will notify the farmer when it’s time to go in and get their check,” Burchette said.
Since it was created a decade ago, the Roundup Ready PLUS incentives program has returned more than $1 billion in rebates to farmers. On average, 80,000 farmers enroll in the program every year, resulting in approximately 60 million acres serviced each growing season.
Also new in 2019, the Roundup Ready PLUS website features updated, user-friendly tools, including an incentives calculator that both retailers and farmers are encouraged to try out.
At RoundupReadyPLUS.com, users can walk through the three-step process mentioned above, and the calculator will generate an incentives amount. Burchette said farmers will be able to print or email that chemistry information and forward it to their retailer to start the purchase process.
“We have also created a 60-second video that describes how the 2019 program works and explains how much simpler it is compared to prior years,” Burchette said.
Visitors to the website can also access a base national herbicide program recommendation for corn, soybeans and cotton.
“If a farmer is uncertain of what chemistries they should use in a given area, they can go to the website, print off a recommendation and take it to their local retailer or agronomist and have it adjusted for any local problems,” Burchette said.
“Again, we’ve made the process really simple. Farmers and retailers have tools to make the most of their decisions with the ability to refine them at the local level.”
