New MoA Code for Australia

30th March 2021 | Agronomy

New MOA classifications coming

From July 2021, the agriculture industry will be transitioning to a NEW code system for differentiating mode of actions for herbicides. Currently, Australia uses an alphabetical code to distinguish between herbicides. Transitioning to numbers instead of letters means that the number of herbicide MoA are not finite and that Australia can join a global approach to differentiating herbicides. According to Crop Life Australia, the industry is hoping to have the new numerical system fully implemented by the end of 2024.

“Some new MoA will be introduced to accommodate some of the new chemistry being introduced worldwide. Some active ingredients will also be reclassified into different groups to better reflect their actual mode of action, not chemical structure.” – Crop Life Australia

An example of what these changes will look like below, in this case for your sowing products:

Herbicide	Current Group	New Group
Smart Clethodim 240	A	1
Smart Silver (Prosulfocarb 800)	J	15
Smart Atrazine 900	C	5
Smart Trifluralin 480	D	3
Smart 2,4-D Amine 625	I	4
Smart Paraquat 250	L	22
Smart Gone 450	M	9

Don’t expect to see these changes on labels until next year (2022); however, it’s a good idea to start getting familiar with the incoming changes. To do this, you can download the Herbicide Resistance Action Committee (HRAC) app here for your phone, or head to this link to simply search for an active or product and see the corresponding new MOA group.

We will continue to update and inform growers as the transition takes place; in the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact your farm advisor/agronomist.