Getting a new herbicide approved may take 12–15 years and cost over $300 million dollars. That’s just for the successful herbicides. The last new herbicide modes of action occurred about 40 years ago, but now several companies are finally releasing new herbicides effective against weed resistant weeds. Developing safe new herbicides is a multi facet project. First, large numbers of chemicals have to be manually screened. Now with AI, this process is much faster. Today most new herbicides are designed to be more site specific for either a targeted site or a weed group. After screening, it has to be tested multiple times to make sure it is biologically active but also does not harm the crop. Then environmental testing and toxicology tests are performed followed by field testing and formulations. A new herbicide has to cross several hurdles to get approved. Bayer invests about 1 billion dollars per year in agricultural research looking for new herbicides and or modes of action. The first ...

Glyphosate is an herbicide and the main ingredient in Roundup, a popular brand of weedkillers. Research shows a potential link between prolonged and high levels of exposure and an increased risk of certain cancers. Roundup has been the subject of thousands of lawsuits, many of which are ongoing.   What Is Glyphosate? Glyphosate is the active ingredient in herbicide products, including Bayer’s Roundup. Glyphosate herbicides are widely used for weed control in U.S. agricultural settings, schools, public areas and home gardens.  Article: https://www.consumernotice.org/environmental/pesticides/roundup/glyphosate/

  Farmer have a new type of weed resistance to worry about. Farmers have been using herbicide or chemical weed control for many years. Weeds have learned several ways to get around herbicides in order to survive. While it is recommended that farmers rotate different groups of herbicides and use full rates, sometimes that does not happen and weeds become herbicide resistant. That has been the main way weeds like pigweed, water hemp, and mares tail have become weed resistant. Some weeds have become resistant to one or several groups of herbicides and now some weeds have even learned to become resistant to almost any herbicide. That is a scary proposition! Often farmers use several passes of herbicides with different modes of action (MOA’s) to control weeds. The goal is to reduce the weed population down to zero so that no survivors pass on any genes that are resistant. The problem is that there are millions of weed seeds in an acre of land, stored over many years. So weed seed is alw...

  With a new year coming, farmers are buying inputs for next years crops. Now is the time to think about purchasing herbicides, but also think about how to avoid herbicide carryover, especially if planting cover crops. Factors that increase herbicide carryover include dry weather, late application especially on herbicides with long half-lives, low soil microbial activity, low soil organic matter (SOM), and cooler and cloudy days. Soil texture (especially sandy soils with low SOM) and soil pH also affect herbicide breakdown. In soybeans, there are five major types of herbicides to watch to avoid herbicide carryover. Flexistar/Reflex and Warrant Ultra (fomesafen) soybean herbicides have a long half-life with up to 18 months planting restriction for small seeded legumes and clovers, brassicas (radish, kale, rape), and even some grasses (oats 4-18 months, rye, wheat, barley 4-11 months). The mode of action is a Group 14 which is a PPO inhibitor (causes reactive oxygen). Authority, Opti...

  Glyphosate has been the #1 herbicide used in the USA since the 1990’s when glyphosate resistant genes (genetically modified) were inserted into crops. Each year, farmers lose about $33 billion dollars in crop losses due to weeds. Over time, 514 unique weeds have developed resistance to 167 different herbicides in 94 crops in 71 countries. Conventional synthetic herbicides is a $27 billion dollar market in the USA. However, 41 countries and 25 states have either banned or restricted the use of glyphosate products. The introduction of safer, new bio-herbicides using natural plant extracts is a distinct advantage; for farmers, for consumers, and for the environment. These biocide herbicides offer new sites and modes of action to reduce weed resistance and can be used in organic and conventional agricultural fields. The worldwide bio-pesticide market is expected to reach $10.63 billion dollars by 2027. Government regulations, environmental risks to pollution, and consumer demand for ...

Farmers who want to plant cover crops after corn and soybeans also want to control resistant weeds like marestail, waterhemp, and giant ragweed. Often the residual soil herbicides remain active and have a long residual or half-life that could hurt cover crop establishment. Herbicide half-life is how long it takes for half the herbicide to break down. Good stands of radish and cereal rye also suppress these tough weeds. Since many factors vary from field to field and even certain areas of the field, residual herbicide activity at cover crop establishment is difficult to predict. Herbicides remain biologically active based on soil temperature, rainfall, time of application, organic matter, soil type, and soil pH. Generally, the warmer the soil at planting time, the higher the microbial activity and the faster the herbicide breaks down. Moisture is critical, so dry summers means less or slower breakdown than when moisture is not limiting. The earlier a herbicide is applied allows the herb...