Farmers are concerned about weeds becoming resistant to herbicides used on crops that have been genetically modified to withstand herbicides…
Lee Briese, crop consultant has been with Centrol Inc. of Twin Valley, N.D., pushes crop rotation, alternative crops and other tools to suppress weeds, in addition to the chemical tools farmers often lean on too heavily. “I’m talking about actually using tools that we’re doing anyway with that are intended as weed management, and adding in cover crops and residue and other things we know that work for weed control, and using them in an agricultural system,” he said.
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Briese advocates soil health-focused biological system.
“The idea is to use more plants to compete with weeds in multiple situations in multiple times of the year and use not only the living plant but the dead tissue — the mulch, the residue — to avoid the weed’s ability to get what it needs, such as nutrients, water and sunlight,” he said.
Some farmers are concerned about other crops — cover crops in the system — being competitive with the primary crop, and yield threats.
“However, there are a lot of times during the year where it is not a significant threat,” Briese said. “We need to change that idea that a beautiful cornfield isn’t one that just has corn in it….”
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Consultant: Adopt new, sustainable practices for weeds
