Glacier FarmMedia – Nine hundred to 1,000 new combines are sold every year in Australia, according to the Tractor and Machinery Association of Australia. Of those new combines, 25 to 30 per cent are equipped with weed seed destructors. “It’s taken off to the level where … there’s a few hundred being sold (with seed […] Read more
Tag Archives weeds
Weed seed destructors gain ground among producers
Attaching a hammer mill to a combine is catching on in Australia, but North American farmers have been more cautious
What’s next for precision spray application?
It’s AI technologies that incorporate a deeper learning, says Australian expert
Guy Coleman, precision weed control researcher at the University of Sydney, says incorporating deep-learning capabilities into sprayer artificial intelligence (AI) systems will allow for ever more efficient weed control while reducing inputs and resistance risk. “Australia has had a long battle with resistance. That’s why I guess some of this technology is being developed out […] Read more
Managing Ontario’s devious weed duo
Strategies offered on how to deal with herbicide-resistant fleabane and waterhemp
Are Canada fleabane or waterhemp consistent or growing problems on your farm? If so, it might be time to change the approach to chemical controls, according to field crop and weed expert Peter Sikkema. Even if the two species are not an immediate concern, adopting a longer-term, more multi-faceted approach to weed management could help […] Read more
How to keep soybeans weed-free
Design weed control plans to help the crop out-compete problem weeds
Without weed control, Ontario soybean growers would lose an estimated $617 million. That’s the number estimated by Peter Sikkema, professor and field crop weed management expert at the University of Guelph, Ridgetown. His figure is based on a per-bushel price of $12.56. With current prices, the cost of inaction on weed management could be even […] Read more
How intensive agriculture turned a wild plant into a pervasive weed
Science Notes: Herbicide resistance continues to challenge growers
New research in Science is showing how the rise of modern agriculture has turned a North American native plant, common waterhemp, into a problematic agricultural weed. An international team led by researchers at the University of British Columbia compared 187 waterhemp samples from modern farms and neighbouring wetlands with more than 100 historical samples dating as far […] Read more
Interest wanes in biopesticides, says scientist
A variety of roadblocks can impede commercialization of biological crop protection products, making them too expensive
Glacier FarmMedia – Biopesticides aren’t ready to compete with synthetic pesticides in broad scale agriculture, said a retired Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientist. Research into biopesticides has waned in the last decade, partly because it takes so long to get products to market in Canada. “I don’t see an appetite for these products in North […] Read more
Opinion: The many tools of agriculture
Glacier FarmMedia – Everything changed for agriculture after the Second World War. As the world went to war, the sector was largely driven by horsepower. By war’s end, it was poised for rapid mechanization and the Green Revolution, which brought about increased use of fertilizer and herbicides, all products of wartime research efforts. The widespread […] Read more
Weed management brings high return on investment in dry beans
Researchers evaluate costs and tank mixes for optimal control
Dry beans are extremely sensitive to weed interference and researchers have now quantified the value of weed management for Ontario growers. “Our data shows there is a 636 per cent return on investment in weed management in dry beans,” says Peter Sikkema, professor in the department of plant agriculture at the University of Guelph. “This […] Read more
Research team looks at sandblasting-style weed control
Projectile method needs work to tackle between-row growth
A plot of white beans at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Harrow research farm is part of a new four-site study taking a sandblasting-style approach to weed control in Canadian crops. “No, it’s not a joke,” begins a news release from the federal agriculture ministry about the research into what’s being called “abrasive or projectile […] Read more
Common weed may be ‘super plant’ with key to drought-resistant crops
A common weed harbours important clues about how to create drought-resistant crops in a world beset by climate change. Yale scientists describe how Portulaca oleracea, commonly known as purslane, integrates two distinct metabolic pathways to create a novel type of photosynthesis that enables the weed to endure drought while remaining highly productive. “This is a […] Read more
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