Managing Weeds Sustainably: The Human Element.

1.0 PM, SSp

Register Now: http://agronomy.peachnewmedia.com/store/seminar/seminar.php?seminar=80797

The number of weeds that are resistant to herbicides has continued to grow in US agricultural production systems.  More alarmingly, several weeds are resistant to multiple herbicides, while there has been no new herbicide mechanism of action discoveries in decades.  Growers, academics, industry, and federal agencies are confronting the possibility that the effectiveness of herbicides may be an exhaustible resource.  There is a scientific consensus that the recent dramatic reduction in the diversity of weed control tactics has contributed to ongoing resistance problems. Evidence suggests that most growers are adopting most resistance management practices most of the time.  But, so far this has not been good enough.  What to do?  The simple answer is that growers will need to adopt more diverse weed control strategies.  Yet, there are several economic, institutional, and regulatory barriers that get in the way.  Growers will not adopt practices unless they can “make them work economically” on their operations.   This talk will address these various social barriers to more sustainable weed management.  It will review what they are and how crop consultants can help overcome them.  A key here will be effective two-way communication between crop consultants and university and industry scientists.  Often, information supporting science-based recommendations is not provided to consultants in useful formats.  Crop consultants can play a critical role in helping improve messaging – not just to growers, but to scientists, academics, industry, and regulators.  In short, they can play vital role in “educating the educators. “