UPL’s Products and Services for Irrigation and Canal Districts
UPL's CASCADE herbicide being applied.
U
PL is the fifth-largest agrochemical company in the world and provides an array of aquatic chemicals to help irrigation districts keep their conveyance structures clean. Not only does UPL manufacture some of the best-known aquatic herbicides in the irrigation business, it also delivers quality customer service. In this interview, UPL’s business lead for aquatics, Jeremy Slade, tells Irrigation Leader about his field of the business and changes in the industry. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
34 | IRRIGATION LEADER | September 2021
Irrigation Leader: Please tell our readers about UPL as a company. Jeremy Slade: We’re the fifth-largest agrochemical company in the world, a ranking we reached a couple of years ago with irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF UPL.
Jeremy Slade: I’ve been in the aquatic plant management industry for about 15 years. After college, my first real job was working as a research associate at Mississippi State University. I was contracted by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, where I evaluated herbicides and algaecides in controlled settings (i.e., mesocosms and growth chambers), supporting new product registrations with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and developing new use patterns for existing registered herbicides and algaecides. I did that for about 3 years and
then moved to Florida, where I took a job at the Center for Aquatic Invasive Plants at the University of Florida. There, I evaluated herbicide applications of various scales to support the operations of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, which has one of the largest aquatic plant management programs in the country. A little over 10 years ago, I joined UPL as a territory sales manager for the southeastern United States. My territory spanned from Texas to Florida and up to Tennessee. In that capacity, I worked with commercial applicators and state and federal agencies to provide recommendations for their aquatic plant management operations. A little over 2 years ago, I took over as the business lead for the UPL aquatics division, where I manage a team of five territory managers and one field development manager. Two of the territory managers I manage are primarily focused the irrigation canal business in the 15 western states.
