Innovative and Safe Agricultural Film
This idea concerns a revolutionary multilayered agricultural film capable of releasing active ingredients over a limited time period. The film has been conceived and designed to encase active ingredients in the film to meet the needs of modern agriculture for a safe and convenient application of agrochemicals, like nematicides, fungicides, insecticides and herbicides. The film releases active ingredients both in a targeted manner and in a timely fashion to the soil only, eliminating today’s costly work steps for the preparation and application of common spray mixture.
The film is safe to handle in transport, storage, and application. It allows for reduced agrochemical usage due to its ease and precise application. The film requires no solvents and is non-flammable, and it begins its work using only water as the catalyst. As the application of the active ingredients is simply done by laying the film on the soil, there is a reduced risk of phytotoxicity for the crop, no drift of the agrochemicals in the environment, and no respiration hazard for operators and bystanders. The slow release of the active ingredients starts after the film has been laid and irrigation is turned on. The active ingredients are residue-free and are released within a period of approximately 14 days. Therefore, the film is disposable and recyclable at the end of its service life. Work gloves provide sufficient protection for operators to prevent dermal absorption of the encased active ingredients during film handling.
Field tests conducted over the past 12 months have met or surpassed expectations and clearly demonstrated the advantages of the film over conventional spray application of agrochemicals in terms of reduced use of active ingredients, increased crop yields, and reduced overall costs for growers.
The film was co-developped by Imaflex Inc. and Bayer Innovation GmbH. For more, click here.
Photo credit to Bobolink.