Companies work together to fight weed resistance

Agriculture companies are collaborating within the industry to fight weed resistance.

Monsanto reached out to key academics and weed scientists across the country for sound recommendations on fighting tough to control weeds or glyphosate resistant weeds, according to Chris Reat, Roundup marketing manager with Monsanto.

Those sound recommendations included using products from competitors like Syngenta, FMC, Valent, AMVAC. Monsanto reached out to those companies and they all came on board with one goal in mind – providing weed control solutions for farmers.

"Let’s don’t discount Roundup and the importance that it plays. It still controls 300-plus weeds out there,” said Reat. “So when we have a tough to control weed or a glyphosate resistant weed, we’re really talking about managing one weed out of that.”

Reat said that’s where partner companies come in. Fall residual programs or pre-residual programs give the farmer the opportunity to control some of those weeds while still using a Roundup program, as well. Reat said a program with this kind of industry collaboration is unique.

"They were disbelievers until they saw the Syngenta rep and the Monsanto rep on the same forum, talking from the same set of materials,” said Reat.

Reat said farmers who were experiencing weed resistance issues and have been proactive with their approach are happy with the result. They have also in many cases learned from farmers in other areas who are struggling with higher levels of weed resistance.

"The folks in the South and Southeast have gone through these challenges. They’ve learned these hard lessons,” said Reat. “We need to take their experiences to places like Illinois, which is kind of a transition area to make sure that we’re being smart about it.”

Reat said the glyphosate resistance issue is slowly creeping into areas where it did not exist before.

"Let’s make sure that we’re smart and proactive about it,” said Reat.

Resistant weeds are not a new issue. They’ve been around since the 1940′s. But things continue to evolve. Reat believes the days where a Roundup program was sound with 100 percent control are gone, and farmers need to now supplement that program with residual products.

"If you don’t have residuals in your program, you need to add them today,” recommended Reat.

He said starting with clean fields will help farmers to keep those clean fields. He also emphasized the importance of being aggressive with scouting.

Above all, Reat recognized that any weed control system has to be effective, economical and sustainable.

"This is not a one year solution. This is something that’s going to continue to be an issue going forward,” said Reat.