Atrazine

• Preparation of the land for winter crops begins in April, which is also the same time harvesting of the summer crops begins.
• Farmers in the Western and Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and other winter crop growing regions are making arrangements for growing winter wheat, canola, barley and oats.
• This year, the outlook for winter crops is clouded by a difficult operating environment, especially the areas that are under irrigation.

Headwinds

• South Africa’s agriculture has never faced a period of power cuts as severe as the current ones.
• For example, recent work by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) shows that roughly a third of South Africa’s farming income is directly dependent on irrigation.
• This shows that disruptions in power supply generally puts at risk a substantive share of the South African agricultural fortunes.
• Of the other key field crops, about 15% of soybeans, 20% of maize and 34% of sugar production are under irrigation.

There are positives

• This is according to Crop Estimates Committee, a government and industry body that monitors crop production.
• These declines would have been higher had the South African Rand not weakened against the US dollar over the same period.
• That’s because in US dollar terms, the prices of the very same agrochemicals are down by 30% from February 2022.
• I generally expect an ample harvest in most summer crops, which is aligned with the view of the Crop Estimates Committee.

Takeways

• The one major risk is electricity stability.
• If the government’s proposed interventions help during irrigation periods – afternoons and evenings – South Africans can expect a favourable winter season.

• These toxins imperil thousands of already threatened or endangered birds, mammals, insects and amphibians, putting species and biodiversity at extreme risk.
• An estimated 235 million or nearly billion pounds of herbicides and insecticides were applied to feed crops for factory-farmed animals in the United States in 2018, the most recent year for which complete information is available, according to the report's findings.
• Among the report's findings are the threats to protected species from the two most-used pesticides in this country glyphosate and atrazine.
• World Animal Protection influences decisionmakers to put animal welfare on the global agenda and inspires people to change animals' lives for the better.

• Atrazine is found throughout the environment, even in the drinking water of millions of people across the country.
• "By working synergistically, we were able to develop a water treatment process that we would never have been able to achieve separately.
• visible light in addition to UV, Professor El Khakani had to make the TiO2 films sensitive to visible sunlight.
• When using actual water samples, only 8 percent of the atrazine was degraded initially.

• PORTLAND, Oregon, Nov. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, " Agrochemicals Market by Type (Fertilizers and Pesticides): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20192026."
• According to the report, the global agrochemicals industry garnered $241.6 million in 2018, and is estimated to reach $336.4 million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 4.2% from 2019 to 2026.
• Increase in population and subsequent surge in demand for food, limited agricultural land, soil degradation, and rise in awareness drive the growth of the global agrochemicals market.
• However, potential harms related to usage of synthetic pesticides including 2, 4-D, and atrazine herbicide restrain the market growth.