Herbicides - important for weed prevention and management
WHAT ARE HERBS?
Herbicides are an important tool for farmers to protect crop yield and quality by preventing weeds from competing with crops for nutrients, light, space, and water.
Without weeds, farmers around the world could produce an average of 34% more crops each year.
Herbicides allow farmers to control weeds and preserve crop yield and quality. If farmers rely too much on one herbicide, weeds will naturally adapt and develop resistance. In fact, about 250 weed species have developed resistance to 160 different herbicides over the past 60 years.
HOW DOES PESTICIDE RESISTANCE DEVELOP?
Resistance is a natural biological response that develops from overuse of the same weed control method instead of integrating chemical, agronomic and non-chemical measures.
HERBICIDE RESISTANCE MANAGEMENT
Q&A:
Why is herbicide resistance management important?
Managing resistance is critical to maintaining the effectiveness of herbicides – one of the essential tools for efficient and healthy food production. Without managing resistance, farmers may lose some of the benefits associated with judicious use of herbicides and herbicide-resistant crops. These benefits include selecting appropriate crops and minimizing tillage practices, helping farmers conserve nutrients and moisture, protecting topsoil and soil structure, while increasing crop yields and protecting the environment.
What to do to manage herbicide resistance?
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) combines a variety of non-chemical practices with chemical and biological technologies to prevent and manage resistance. Farmers often use practices such as crop rotation, weed management and cultivation, and herbicide rotation with different sites of action as part of their IPM strategy. Herbicide guidelines also encourage farmers to search for and control all surviving weeds in their fields before they go on to produce seeds and to use best field practices to prevent the development of resistance.
Are Biotech Crops a Cause of Herbicide Resistance?
No. Herbicide resistance in weeds has been around since the dawn of agriculture and affects all production systems. Whether using biotechnology or conventional agriculture, resistance occurs and must be managed through good IPM practices.
