Some farmers in central Illinois turned to hand hoeing of soybean fields to get rid of weeds that herbicides don’t kill, says DTN’s Pam Smith. “Twenty years ago, walking beans was a summer ritual for teens.” The hot and dirty job died out a couple of decades ago with the arrival of soybean varieties genetically engineered to tolerate weedkillers. “Weeds are getting the last laugh, though,” writes Smith. Farmers in the South resorted to hiring “hoe crews” several years ago to battle herbicide-resistant Palmer amaranth. It’s still uncommon to see a crew walking beans in the Midwest.
“Weed populations with resistances to multiple herbicide classes are increasingly common, leaving few control options, particularly in soybeans,” says Smith. Waterhemp in Illinois has shown resistance to five families of weedkillers.