Waterhemp’s foothold in Canada has grown, with hotbed municipalities in eastern Manitoba. The herbicide mix promised by Vyconic may help beat back the problem weed.

New Bayer genetics to open up soybean herbicide tolerance

Vyconic trait set offers tolerance to five herbicides and will be integrated with the company’s soybean varieties in coming years

Bayer’s Vyconic soybeans offer tolerance to five herbicides, a first for Canadian crop growers. This new advancement could help farmers combat resistant weeds and manage fields.

Peter Sikkema says the reason for less than acceptable weed control with herbicides is frequently outside of everybody’s control, but sometimes it’s a result of human error.

Why herbicide effectiveness varies

Peter Sikkema discusses how to hedge your bets when controlling weeds

Herbicides are incredible weed control tools, but their effectiveness can be significantly degraded by a variety of environmental, human and other factors.


Waterhemp has been confirmed as resistant to multiple modes of action across as many as 18 counties in Ontario.

Waterhemp is the new “oh-no” weed

Ontario biotypes are resistant to up to five different herbicide groups

It’s no longer a matter of ‘if’ waterhemp comes to your farm, it’s ‘when.’ Those were the words of Richard Anderson, a business representative with BASF, speaking last month at the Southwest Agricultural Conference at University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus. It was probably the most pertinent take-home message from a panel discussion on tackling waterhemp, […] Read more

Kochia in a canola field.  Photo: File

Crop-killing weeds advance across US farmland as chemicals lose effectiveness

Losing battle with weeds adds pressures to farmers already stressed by inflation, extreme weather

Crop-killing weeds such as kochia are advancing across the U.S. northern plains and Midwest, in the latest sign that weeds are developing resistance to chemicals faster than companies including Bayer BAYGn.DE and Corteva CTVA.N can develop new ones to fight them.


File photo of palmer amaranth — the taller yellowish plants — infesting a U.S. cotton field. (Photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Palmer amaranth pops back up in Ontario

Weed infamous in U.S. for multiple herbicide resistances

A single plant that showed up this summer on the edge of a southwestern Ontario cornfield is cause for concern among Canadian farmers, weed specialists warn. Writing Monday in the ag ministry’s Field Crop News, Ontario provincial weed management specialist Mike Cowbrough said the plant in question, found in Wellington County, is confirmed as palmer […] Read more

These different chaff samples are before and after they’ve passed through the Redekop seed control unit.

Herbicide resistance fight requires integrated seed management

‘You’re not going to spray your way out of this’

Seed control at harvest is not a golden ticket to tackle weeds resistant to glyphosate, fluroxypyr and dicamba, but it’s among a range of solutions needed to stem the tide, says Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researcher Breanne Tidemann. “You’re not going to spray your way out of this,” she said about herbicide resistance during her […] Read more

Neale Heinrich stands in front of the Redekop Seed Control Unit at its booth at Ag in Motion on July 18, 2023. (Braedyn Wozniak photo)

At Ag in Motion: Herbicide resistance fight needs integrated seed management

'Those seedlings we don’t manage to kill (are) probably the most herbicide-resistant'

Harvest weed-seed control takes aim at reducing herbicide-resistant weeds that western Canadian farmers find more and more every year. At the Ag in Motion outdoor farm show this week, field residue management manufacturer Redekop won the Innovations Award for Environmental Sustainability for its harvest Seed Control Unit, which destroys more than 95 per cent of […] Read more


Originally a tow-behind unit that attached to the back of the combine, the newer iteration of the Harrington Seed Destructor is a mill that can be integrated with the combine. (Photo: deBruin Engineering Pty Ltd.)

At Ag in Motion: Harvest weed control still in the mix

'You’re not going to spray your way out of this'

It’s a relatively new solution to the age-old problem of trying to get rid of weeds without broadcasting the seed or using increasingly less effective herbicides — mechanical separation and pulverization of weed seed. Harvest weed seed control might not be a golden bullet to tackle glyphosate-, fluroxypyr- and dicamba-resistant weeds, but according to Agriculture […] Read more

The industry needs to talk more about weather, sprayer tips, record-keeping and communicating with neighbours.

Staying on-target: How seed tech and weed type factor into spraying

Herbicide resistance and seed technologies making spray decisions complex

Off-target movement of herbicides carries a risk to your own crops, your neighbour’s crop and your insurance premiums. Particularly with the arrival of Group 4 and Group 9 herbicide technologies, there may be a perception that weed management has become simpler. But resistant weed biotypes are confounding that notion and are challenging growers and their […] Read more