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Home » You searched for weed control
Baker County Weed Control Job Openings
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SALEM, Ore. — Baker County Weed Program has several great noxious weed openings. Are you looking for a new job or know someone who would love to gain experience in NE Oregon?
Check out the Baker County Noxious Weed Openings
Weed District Supervisor
The Weed Supervisor, under the supervision of the Baker county Commissioners, is responsible for the safe and legal management of noxious weeds and undesirable vegetation using a variety of management techniques on private, county, and other public lands and directs the functions of the weed and vegetation management program through the Baker County Weed District.
Seasonal Weed Control Technician
This classification performs the safe and legal management of noxious weeds and undesirable vegetation using a variety of management techniques on private, county, and other public lands.
Application period closes on March 13, 2024 or until filled
Complete job description and application is available upon request or online at: www.bakercountyor.gov.
Baker County job link
— ODA
Can Mixed Cover Crops Double as a Weed Control and Soil Health Builder?
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2024 Penn State Mid-Atlantic Weed Control Guide Released
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Farm managers in the mid-Atlantic region looking for the latest, research-based information on managing weeds in corn, sorghum, soybeans, small grains and forages can turn to the 2024 edition of the Mid-Atlantic Weed Control Guide: Essentials for Agronomic Crops, now available for purchase from Penn State Extension.
Featuring updated herbicide tables from the 2023-24 edition of the Penn State Agronomy Guide, this condensed, quick-reference manual highlights basic information about herbicide-use recommendations and herbicide effectiveness on common weed species in the region.
The guide contains essential tables about herbicide recommendations and general use guidelines for corn, sorghum, soybean, small grains, forages and farmstead.
It also offers herbicide effectiveness ratings on problem weeds such as henbit, horsenettle, horseweed/marestail, palmer amaranth and waterhemp, common pokeweed, common ragweed, giant ragweed, annual ryegrass, broadleaf and curly dock, johnsongrass and shattercane, lambsquarters, milkweed and hemp dogbane, Canada thistle, and other species.
Penn State Extension produced this publication in cooperation with the University of Delaware, the University of Maryland, Rutgers University, Virginia Tech and West Virginia University.
The Penn State Mid-Atlantic Weed Control Guide: Essentials for Agronomic Crops, which can be previewed and purchased online, is available in print ($10) or as a digital download ($8). A bundle that includes both versions can be purchased for $18. More information about this guide is available at https://extension.psu.edu/
–Alexandra McLaughlin, Penn State University
Jepson Named 2024 Weed Control Partner
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BISMARCK, N.D. – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring has named Travis Jepson as the recipient of the 2024 Weed Control Partner Award.
Jepson has been the full-time weed officer for the Stark County Weed Board for the past 15 years and worked part time the 2 years prior. He is a past president of the North Dakota Weed Control Association and earned their Weed Warrior Award in 2019.
“Travis helped develop and worked with the Dickinson City Weed Board to implement an effective program,” Goehring said. “He is very involved with his program and makes sure it positively impacts landowners in his county.”
“Travis is a great communicator and puts people at ease,” Goehring added. “He encourages teamwork by working jointly with landowners, other weed boards and the North Dakota Department of Agriculture.”
The award was presented to Jepson by Deputy Commissioner Tom Bodine during the 2024 Commissioner’s Noxious Weed Forum today in Bismarck.
— NDDA
EPA Approves Use of Metamitron for Sugar Beet Weed Control in 14 NE Counties
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LINCOLN, Neb. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently approved and issued an exemption to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) to allow farmers to use metamitron herbicide for weed control in sugar beets only in 14 designated Nebraska counties. The exemption was issued under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). NDA’s Pesticide Program staff work in close cooperation with the EPA to enforce FIFRA, as well as the Nebraska Pesticide Act.
“Sugar beets are a major crop in western Nebraska and are important to Nebraska’s economy and the state’s ag industry,” said NDA Director Sherry Vinton. “At NDA, we asked the EPA for this exemption to assist Nebraska sugar beet growers as they look for ways to optimize plant growth and production.”
Metamitron is the active ingredient in Goltix 700 SC, an unregistered product manufactured for and distributed by Makhteshim Agan of North America, Inc. Applications of the product may be made during the 2024 growing season to control glyphosate-tolerant Palmer Amaranth in sugar beet fields in the Nebraska counties of Banner, Box Butte, Chase, Cheyenne, Dawes, Deuel, Garden, Keith, Kimball, Morrill, Perkins, Scotts Bluff, Sheridan, and Sioux.
Directions for use, restrictions and precautions found on the label dated Dec. 8, 2023, must be followed as well as additional restrictions outlined by the EPA in the exemption document which can be found on NDA’s website at https://nda.nebraska.gov/pesticide/section18_exemption.html
This exemption is valid until Aug. 31, 2024, although all applications must be made March 30, 2024, through May 31, 2024.
— Nebraska Department of Agriculture
Glyphosate’s Declining Weed Control Over 25 Years
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URBANA, Ill. — It has been a quarter century since corn and soybeans were engineered to withstand the withering mists of the herbicide glyphosate. Initially heralded as a “silver bullet” for weed control, the modified crops and their herbicide companion were quickly and widely adopted across corn and soybean-growing regions of North America. In the years that followed, though, weeds targeted for eradication quietly fomented a rebellion.
A new PNAS Nexus study led by scientists from the USDA Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign takes a retrospective look at glyphosate efficacy after the engineered crops were commercialized. Amassing data from annual herbicide evaluation trials at land-grant universities across the U.S. and Canada, the researchers show a significant and rapid decline in glyphosate control for all seven major weed species they examined.
“Our analysis represents one of the largest cumulative measures of how weed communities have adapted to the simplified weed management tactics adopted at an unprecedented scale throughout North America,” said Chris Landau, postdoctoral researcher for USDA-ARS and first author on the paper.
Although glyphosate provided superior weed control in the early years, most of the weeds in the dataset showed signs of adaptation to the chemical in just two to three years. Within a decade, weeds were up to 31.6% less responsive to glyphosate, with further linear declines as time went on.
“Nature did exactly what we were trying to help people avoid: it adapted,” said co-author Aaron Hager, professor and faculty Extension specialist in the Department of Crop Sciences and Illinois Extension, part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at U. of I.
In addition to loss of control, glyphosate efficacy became more variable over time.
“When glyphosate-tolerant crops were first adopted, weed control was high in every environment; however, year after year glyphosate performance became less consistent,” said co-author Marty Williams, an ecologist with the USDA-ARS and affiliate professor of crop sciences. “For example, glyphosate provided nearly 100% control of a given species in most plots in the mid-1990s. But over time, acceptable weed control became rarer, often deteriorating below 50%, 30%, and worse.”
These patterns were derived from annual herbicide evaluation trials conducted at land-grant universities, usually in conjunction with their respective Extension services. These carefully managed trials test new and existing herbicides against numerous common and troublesome weed species. Most land-grant universities have multiple herbicide evaluation trials running statewide each year, with some continuously operating since the 1970s.
A couple of years ago, Landau, Hager, and Williams mined historical data from U. of I. herbicide evaluation trials to look at the effect of climate change on weed control in Illinois corn and soybean fields. When they decided to look at the history of the country’s most widely used herbicide, the team knew it would be more powerful to access data beyond Illinois. In cooperation with 24 institutions throughout North America, Landau compiled a massive database representing nearly 8 million observations from 1996 to 2021.
For the current study, Landau winnowed the data down to fields that tested glyphosate annually, alone or in combination with a pre-emergence herbicide. He also narrowed the target weeds to seven major players: annual and giant ragweed, horseweed, lambsquarter, Palmer amaranth, velvetleaf, and waterhemp. In the end, the dataset represented trial data from 11 institutions.
After documenting patterns of glyphosate control and variability over time, Landau re-ran the analysis for plots in which a pre-emergence herbicide had been applied before glyphosate. The results were strikingly different.
“Adding a pre-emergence herbicide effective against the target weed species significantly improved control and reduced variability of glyphosate over time,” Landau said. “The most we saw for any weed species was a 4.4% loss of control per decade, compared to 31.6% loss for glyphosate alone.”
Hager isn’t surprised. Along with several U. of I. colleagues, he has been cautioning against reliance on any single chemistry for 15 years. His 2008 recommendation aimed at avoiding glyphosate resistance included guidance to use a pre-emergence herbicide at the full rate. Far from common practice at the time, the recommendation was largely ignored.
“Having already seen loss of control with ALS- and PPO-inhibitors [other classes of herbicides], we eventually reached the point where we felt it necessary to come out with some very specific recommendations for glyphosate. Because if we didn’t, we had a pretty good idea of where this was going to end up,” Hager said. “And, unfortunately, we were right.”
The dataset for glyphosate can only show patterns, not explanations. While herbicide resistance might be to blame — the issue has become a major problem in agricultural weeds in recent decades — it’s not the only reason glyphosate may have loosened its grip.
Landau noted that two species he tracked in the analysis — velvetleaf and lambsquarter — have not yet had a confirmed case of glyphosate resistance anywhere in the world. Yet both followed the same trends as glyphosate-resistant species in the dataset. He said herbicide pressure — or concurrent climate changes — over the past 25 years may have selected for larger leaf area or earlier emergence, both of which could help weeds survive glyphosate.
Regardless of the mechanism, the pattern is clear: silver bullets for weed control don’t exist. The researchers urge diversification in chemistries, including soil- and foliar-applied products; crop rotation patterns; and mechanical controls.
And if another silver bullet is marketed in the future? Hager says the glyphosate story should serve as a cautionary tale.
“Let’s imagine a company says they have the next silver bullet. It’s going to enjoy a huge market share almost instantaneously. But it needs to come with a stewardship plan to better preserve that chemistry over time,” he said. “Why would we think nature would behave any differently? It won’t.
The study, “The silver bullet that wasn’t: Rapid agronomic weed adaptations to glyphosate in North America,” is published in PNAS Nexus [DOI:10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad338]. Landau and Williams are with the Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit of USDA ARS, which supported the study.
–Lauren Quinn
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Low-Power Electric Weed Control Shows Promise
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DAVIS, Calif. — Weed control without herbicides, tillage or hoeing may seem like magic but new research into electrified metal mesh is showing promise for vineyards, orchards, blueberries and other high-value crops.
Funded by the Western Integrated Pest Management Center through a competitive grant, research in New Mexico and Oregon is developing and evaluating “electric mulch” weed-control systems that use a low-power current in steel screens set within rows to kill weeds as they sprout. Small solar panels power the system.
“We’re using two different types of screens and testing them against pre-emergent herbicides and plastic weed barriers for weed control,” explained Erik Lehnhoff, an associate professor of weed ecology and management at New Mexico State University. “We installed them in April and we’re seeing very good weed control compared to the control plots, and even to the herbicide plots which now have an abundance of weeds in them.”
The experiment is being conducted in a cabernet vineyard in the university’s research farm in Las Cruces, with a second trial in a blueberry field in Oregon. The two types of screen have different-sized mesh – one a tighter weave and one more open.
“The general concept of how these screens work is that it takes a weed to complete the electrical circuit,” Lehnhoff said. “The solar panel generates the electricity which flows through a wire to the screens, but it needs a connection to go from the screen to the ground. The weed is that connection. There is no actual electricity flowing until a weed comes up and touches the screen and that completes the circuit.”
In the vineyard, it’s easy to see the concept in action. The narrow-mesh screens are almost entirely weed-free while a few thin, spindly weeds poke through the larger holes in the more open-mesh versions. Those skinny weeds have been lucky enough not to make contact with the screen, but eventually get large enough to touch the metal and die.
Lehnhoff’s ongoing research will determine how much mesh coverage a single solar panel can power, discover what irrigation practices are compatible with the system and develop a commercial cost analysis.
“It’s going to be most economically feasible in high-value crops, and one of the best applications would be in organic systems where herbicides are not used,” he said. “This could eliminate the need for a lot of hand-weeding within rows, which has a huge labor cost.”
Read the full story about the research at http://westernipm.org/index.cfm/ipm-in-the-west/agriculture/testing-electric-mulch-for-weed-control/
Watch a short video about the project at https://youtu.be/-Khu7LbpnxY
The Western Integrated Pest Management Center is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop and promote safe and sustainable pest management in 17 Western states and territories. The Center’s annual grant program is currently accepting applications, with $320,000 available for new projects in 2024.
Visit www.westernipm.org to learn more.
–Western Integrated Pest Management Center
Finding Alternatives to Glyphosate for Pre-Plant Weed Control
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WATCH: Organic Weed Control on a 2,000 Grain Farm in New York
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ALBANY — Klaas and Mary-Howell Martens farm nearly 2,000 acres of organic grains and legumes in the Finger Lakes region of New York. In these videos, Klaas Martens discusses the role of careful field observation and diverse crop rotations in their non-chemical management of weeds, blind cultivation strategies, and the camera-guided finger weeder, which allows for in-row weed cultivation after crop emergence.
Manage Weeds on Your Farm: The Martens Farm
Blind Cultivation on the Martens Farm
Learn more about reducing or eliminating the use of synthetic herbicides with the book Manage Weeds on Your Farm: A Guide to Ecological Strategies, available online and in print.
This material is distributed by SARE Outreach for the SARE Program and based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2017-38640-26822. SARE Outreach operates under cooperative agreements with the University of Maryland to develop and disseminate information about sustainable agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider.
–SARE Program
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