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Minnesota farmers adapting to herbicide resistance

A soybean researcher says farmers in his state are adapting to the herbicide-resistant weed epidemic.

David Kee with the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council tells Brownfield growers are mixing up chemistries and making more passes.

“We’re seeing more and more pre-emergent programs put together.  You can really spot the fields that didn’t get a pre-emerge put down this year.”

He says many growers have moved to a three-layer package aimed at keeping resistant weeds like waterhemp and ragweed under control early, then promoting canopy closure.

Kee is also seeing a renaissance in row-crop cultivation.

“Tilling between the rows to keep those weeds under control.  (farmers) are mixing it up better than they have in years gone by.”

Kee says the secret to resistance management is not doing the same thing the same way year after year.