Movento: It’s Back

The introduction of a new pesticide, Movento, that was just registered this past fall — for the second time — has really been something of a roller coaster ride. But thanks to the support of growers, consultants, researchers, commodity groups, and even a couple of states’ departments of agriculture, the ride appears to be smoothing out nicely. In the end, about 100 people wrote in to support Movento’s re-registration.

Click here to watch Kevin Adam discuss the re-registration of Movento.

“I was surprised at the total number of people that responded,” said Bayer CropScience Manager Kevin Adam. “Of course we hope people will be passionate about the product, but it was still very surprising and very meaningful.”

 

 

People were passionate about the product because Movento is that rare triple threat in insecticides. It’s extremely effective on a broad range of sucking pests, many of which cause serious problems that threaten entire fields; it’s quite soft on beneficial insects and the environment at large; and its active ingredient, spirotetramat, is the first member of the new chemical class of tetramic acids developed exclusively by Bayer. Being in a new class means the threat of developing resistance problems, perhaps an entomologist’s worst nightmare, is reduced.

An Inside Job
Not only that, but it has one other quality that will make growers, especially growers of leafy greens, sit up and take notice. It’s a foliar insecticide with two-way systemic activity, so a grower just has to spray a leaf and Movento moves to all areas of the plant, right down to the roots. That’s a tremendous advantage to lettuce growers, who struggle with aphids like the red lettuce aphid, which manages to delve down into the heart of the plant where it’s completely hidden away.

Movento was first approved by EPA in June 2008. All was moving along smoothly until environmental groups found EPA had not followed strict noticing procedures and filed suit. A judge agreed, and essentially called a do-over. That meant that all those growers who’d been using the product couldn’t use it any-more unless the product was re-registered. But Bayer knew they had the growers on their side, said Adam. “We encouraged people to write in if it was a tool that was valuable to them, and they took the opportunity, which is great,” he said.

 

Growers Speak Out
What follows is a sampling of those submissions received by EPA. In an introductory letter, the agency notes: “Because the invitation for comments did not specify that the comments would be made public, all personally identifying information has been removed. Information identifying organizations, however, remains.”

– A crop consultant in west Texas who has been working with crops and pesticides since 1985: “I am writing to air my concerns about the product Movento being removed from the pesticide market. Movento is an excellent product because it is effective at controlling the target pest (potato psyllid ) while not adversely affecting the beneficial insects or assorted wildlife that live in and around our crops.”

– A Florida vegetable production adviser: “Over the years with the development of new more environmentally friendly chemistry we have been getting growers to move successfully to softer chemicals approved to replace some of the other harsher chemicals! Spirotetramat is a major tool in the control of whiteflies, mites, and aphids.”