Tag Archives: weeds

Italian Farmers Realize Profits from Herbicide Applications

Posted on by
Reply

In Italy, herbicides to kill weeds in crop fields have been routinely used on almost all the acres for the past 30 years. Is the cost of the herbicide application justified considering the levels of weed infestation? Italian researchers examined the record…

“The frequency distribution of yield loss due to weeds in winter wheat, sugar beet, maize and soybean has been studied using the available data of weed control trials undertaken in north-central Italy in the last 30 years. The breakeven yield loss and the probability of obtaining a positive net return from chemical weed control were calculated, considering different treatment options and different weed-free yields.”

“In winter wheat the probability of a positive net return from chemical weed control is high, between 80.5 and 97.3%. … As far as other crops analysed are concerned, the probability of a chemical treatment being profitable is >80% in maize and soybeans and >95% in sugar beets.”

“The profitability of chemical weed control depends on the density, composition and time of emergence of the weed flora, on the competitiveness of the crop and on the chemical used. In most cases, however, it is profitable to spray; in other words in the Po Valley there is a high degree of probability that the weed density is sufficient to bring about a yield loss greater than the treatment cost.”

Authors: G. Zanin¹, A. Berti² and M. Giannini³
Affiliation: ¹ Instituto di Agronomia Generale e Coltivazioni Erbacee, Padova, Italy; ² Centro per lo Studio dei Diserbanti del CNR, Padova, Italy; ³ ESAV, Venice, Italy
Title: Economics of herbicide use on arable crops in north-central Italy.
Publication: Crop Protection. 1992. 11:174-180.

Sustainable Ag Pioneers Learn Value of Modern Herbicides

Posted on by
Reply

Dick and Sharon Thompson of Boone, Iowa are pioneering giants of the sustainable agriculture research agenda in the U.S. They helped found Practical Farmers of Iowa. Since 1986, the Thompsons have conducted on-farm research trials and have produced an annual report. The Thompson farm is not organic; however, they generally do not use herbicides, preferring to use a rotary hoe to destroy weeds. In most years, the mechanical control works well, but then came the very rainy 2008 growing season…

“2008 was not a good year for soybeans because of weather, rain and more rain. This was the first year that we lost money on a soybean field. We could not rotary hoe. The beans were good size when we cultivated the first time (June 24). The cultivator threw soil in and around the bean plants, looked like an excellent job. It rained 1.25 inches two days later on June 26 starting all the weed seed we pushed into the row. We had grass in the row, which is not the norm, along with broadleaf weeds. … The field was a mess. The rope wicks attached [to] our old hyboy filled with round up [herbicide] went up and back on the same rows to kill the weeds so that our small combine could harvest the field. The rope wick killed the weeds and the combine was able to handle the dead weeds. The yield was 37 bushel per acre, 7 bushel below county average of 44 and we lost $49 per acre. The field was sprayed for aphids adding more expense.”

“We could not manage weeds in the end rows of corn and soybean fields without herbicides.”

Authors: Dick and Sharon Thompson
Publication: Thompson Agriculture Alternatives 2009 Report
Available at: http://www.practicalfarmers.org/resources/alternatives-in-agriculture.html

Jimmy Carter Lived the Weed Nightmare

Posted on by
Reply

Our 39th President, Jimmy Carter, grew up on a peanut and cotton farm long before herbicides were available to manage weeds. In his autobiography, President Carter recounts the nightmare of trying to control weeds with tractors and hand labor.

“Our part of Georgia receives about fifty inches of rain during an average year, mostly during the spring and early summer… However, depending entirely on draft animals and hand labor, small variations in the rain pattern could be devastating. … The dry ground permitted the mule-drawn cultivating plows and hoes to restrain the ever-encroaching weeds and grass. However, when no plowing was possible because of several successive days of rain, the noxious plants were uncontrollable. Something like the terrible creeping and oozing things in horror movies, Bermuda grass, coffeeweed, cocklebur, Johnsongrass, beggar-lice, and nut grass would emerge from what had been a cleanly cultivated field, and in a few days our entire crop of young peanuts and cotton could be submerged in a sea of weeds. Often, despite the most heroic efforts by the best farmers, parts of the crop would have to be abandoned. Although partially salvaged, the remaining young plants were heavily damaged by the aggressive plowing and hoeing. During these rainy times, Daddy would pace at night, scan the western skies for a break in the clouds, and scour the community, often far from our own farm, to recruit any person willing to hoe or pull up weeds for day wages.”

Author: Jimmy Carter
Publication: An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood. 2001. Simon & Schuster, New York.