weed resistance

The fast-growing weed Palmer amaranth has developed a tolerance for dicamba herbicide in least five counties in western Tennessee and likely several others, said University of Tennessee weed specialist Larry Steckel on Monday. The report was a setback for dicamba, which was introduced a few years ago as a new tool for control of invasive weeds that showed resistance to glyphosate and other weedkillers.

Three-dozen consumer groups and businesses asked the USDA to tighten its regulation of crops containing genetically modified organisms as part of an overhaul of its regulatory system, said Reuters.

A panel of two dozen scientists begins a week-long meeting today in Lyon, France, to "analyze scientific findings regarding links between cancer in humans and the herbicide known as 2,4-D," says Reuters.

Herbicide-resistant "super weeds" are a threat to adoption of conservation tillage in the South, says Southeast Farm Press. In its story, a USDA weed scientist says hundreds of thousands of conservation tillage acres are at risk of...

Two major seed companies say they don't plan to use Dow's genetics that allow soybeans to tolerate the herbicides 2,4-D and glyphosate, says Bloomberg.

Cotton and soybean varieties genetically engineered by Monsanto to tolerate the herbicide dicamba should be approved for use by farmers, said USDA in issuing its final environmental impact statement (EIS) on the strains.

Crops such as wheat and corn would fare better against weeds if growers abandoned the traditional approach of planting crops in rows, says research by the University of Copenhagen.

Herbicide-resistant "superweeds" are the result of "over-reliance on a single class of herbicides," says the Weed Science Society of America.