Reasons To Change

 

 

 

 

Farmers know that herbicide resistance is a growing problem because ag experts, researchers and others have trumpeted that message for years. As with many farming decisions, it often takes some convincing for farmers to change the way they operate.

 

Central crop consultant Lee Briese says that, in most herbicide-resistance cases he has seen, the decision growers made to change how they farm was not voluntary.

 

“It’s taken a personal disaster,” Briese says. “It’s taken having a field of their own that has become unmanageable before growers will make changes. Resistance is an issue with both weeds and people.”

 

 

Aaron Stroh read about the nightmarish situation some farmers in the southern United States faced with resistant Palmer amaranth overrunning entire fields and rendering the land unmanageable. The issue resonated with Stroh and his brother who farm near Lamoure, North Dakota, because they faced challenges with resistant kochia and waterhemp.

 

“I was reading about what was happening elsewhere, and it changed my view on what we were doing here,” Stroh explains. “I didn’t want a disaster like that.”

 

Stroh says that he and his brother stopped using twice-a-season Roundup applications and began incorporating more pre-plant herbicides as well as a second-pass residual herbicide on soybeans. They are including cover crops so that they don’t burn out herbicides. They are planting all Liberty Link soybeans this year to get another herbicide mode of action into the mix. Crop rotation is also part of their plan. Depending upon market opportunities, in addition to corn and soybeans, the Strohs have planted wheat, cereal rye, barley and peas.

 

“We like to change up the rotation to get weeds off balance,” Stroh says.

 

Some of the Strohs’ high-saline soils have been taken from the row-crop production and planted to grasses or alfalfa, which is mowed and fed to livestock.

 

 

Stroh also began talking with other farmers who were changing their approaches in order to find out what worked for them. North Dakota State University Extension Soil Health Specialist Abbey Wick, Ph.D., says that connections to other growers can be a strong motivator.

 

“I think innovative farmers need to be in contact with other like-minded innovative farmers,” Wick says. “I’m finding this bond to be very important as they try to stick to their best management practices. It also helps advance their practices on-farm. In a hard time, these bonds with other farmers keep them on their current path.”

 

Briese says that farmers like the Strohs are the minority, but more growers are recognizing that the threat is real.

 

“Realizing there is a problem isn’t hard,” Briese says. “The difficulty is ownership of that problem. It’s theirs. Not their neighbor’s, it’s not a problem in their area; it’s theirs and they must address it.”

 

 

Briese believes that farmers hear enough “fear messages” about herbicide resistance and what needs to be done. He promotes a message of hope that disasters can be prevented.

 

“We have options. I know many ways to keep weeds from making seeds. Herbicides are just one way,” Briese says.

 

There is also hope once weeds have taken over an area. Briese has worked with farmers who have successfully reclaimed fields that were once overrun with resistant weeds. It may take several growing seasons, but it can be done.

 

In most cases, Briese says, resistant weeds haven’t overtaken entire fields. Generally, there are small pockets where farmers need to focus treatments in order to prevent larger-scale issues.

 

As is the case with most challenges, both on and off the farm, Stroh and Briese agree that it’s best to make changes before a problem exists.

 

“There are solutions,” Briese insists. “The solutions are better the sooner you start.”

 

 

Wick explains that it often takes a personal relationship and the development of trust before farmers are comfortable adopting changes based on others’ advice. It’s not always an economic or business consideration that is the tipping point.