Agri Innovations
CoAXium Hits the Market - Farmers Introduced to First Wheat System Developed Since Clearfield
Wed, 22 May 2019 14:20:37 CDT
Chad Shelton was in Tonkawa, Okla. this past week visiting with local wheat producers during a special promotional field day. As one of the lead marketers at Albaugh, a major player in the new CoAXium system for weed control in winter wheat, Shelton was on hand to educate and inform Oklahoma producers about this recently developed production system and the benefits it can have on their operations. He shared some of that information with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays on the sidelines of that event. You can listen to their complete conversation by clicking or tapping the LISTEN BAR below at the bottom of the page.
According to Shelton, CoAXium is the brainchild of Colorado wheat producers. The system's development began in 2008 when wheat growers in Colorado partnered with researchers at Colorado State University with the goal of creating a new herbicide-tolerant non-GMO trait that would give farmers better control of winter annual grassy weeds and a better return on investment at the grower level. Now in the testing phase of development, Shelton says there is currently 75,000 acres planted with wheat carrying the patented CoAXium trait. In the near future he says the trait will be introgressed with the varieties of other breeding programs all over the US, including those of Oklahoma State University's program headed up by Chairman of the Oklahoma Wheat Improvement Team Dr. Brett Carver, for the benefit of producers' use.
The CoAXium System includes both a proprietary trait and an herbicide dubbed Aggressor, that works with the trait. These technologies combined with elite germplasm and proper stewardship, Shelton says, come together to form the first effective weed controlling production system for wheat to hit the market since Clearfield.
"If we look at when the last herbicide tolerant trait was brought to the marketplace," he said, "it was over 18 years ago. Since then, we haven't had any new technology brought to us."
Shelton says the key to CoAXium, is proper stewardship. Managed appropriately, he says CoAXium will be able to stave off resistance for the foreseeable future.
"Stewardship is really critical. It gives us the ability to manage how the functionality and usefulness of this technology works over time," he said. "We believe through the proper stewardship, we can make this technology last for over 10 to 15 years.
"Remember - resistance isn't something we develop- it's something that we manage, and stewardship will help us keep resistance at bay as long as we possibly can."
Learn more about the CoAXium Wheat Production System, by clicking here to visit their website.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
