Kochia in a canola field.  Photo: File

Crop-killing weeds advance across US farmland as chemicals lose effectiveness

Losing battle with weeds adds pressures to farmers already stressed by inflation, extreme weather

Crop-killing weeds such as kochia are advancing across the U.S. northern plains and Midwest, in the latest sign that weeds are developing resistance to chemicals faster than companies including Bayer BAYGn.DE and Corteva CTVA.N can develop new ones to fight them.


EU member states will be told to pay particular attention to the protection of animals such as voles or wildflowers in risk analyses.

EU extends glyphosate authorization

European farmers will be able to use the herbicide for at least another decade, but it’s not without conditions

Reuters – The European Union has authorized the use of glyphosate for 10 more years, but there will be new conditions, the EU Commission announced Nov. 16. The current period of authorization was set to expire in mid-December. New restrictions will include measures to protect animals and plants that are not the actual target of glyphosate use. The

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Appeals court blocks California warning labels for glyphosate

Decision important in ongoing lawsuits, Bayer says

Reuters — A divided U.S. federal appeals court on Tuesday said California cannot require businesses to warn consumers about the potential dangers of glyphosate, an ingredient in Roundup herbicide that has been linked to cancer. Upholding a permanent injunction, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco found it unconstitutional to force Bayer’s


(File photo by Dave Bedard)

EU countries fail to agree on extending glyphosate approval

Current approval expires Dec. 15

Brussels | Reuters — European Union governments failed on Friday to give a decisive opinion on a proposal to extend by 10 years EU approval for the use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer’s Roundup herbicide. A “qualified majority” of 15 countries representing at least 65 per cent of the bloc’s population had been

Photo: Oleksandr Yuchynskyi/iStock/Getty Images


The do’s and don’ts of desiccation

As with all herbicide applications, follow the label, especially on application timing

It is time to think about desiccation and pre-harvest weed control. “We’ve had some really good, hot weather for harvesting, so it really hasn’t been a year that we’ve had to talk much about pre-harvest desiccation or pre-harvest weed management,” provincial weed extension specialist Kim Brown-Livingston says. “But the harvest has just begun, and we’ve


File photo of a cornfield in Mexico. (Roberto Cabrera/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. escalates Mexico corn trade spat with dispute panel request

Canada 'considering its next steps'

Washington | Reuters — The United States on Thursday escalated its objections to Mexico’s curbs on genetically modified corn imports, requesting a dispute settlement panel under the North American trade pact, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said. The request to send the dispute to arbitrators was announced after formal consultations failed to resolve deep divisions

The Bayer AG logo at the headquarters in France.  Photo: Reuters/Benoit Tessier/File

Bayer slashes outlook as glyphosate demand weakens further

Analysts say dry weather conditions hurt farmers' demand for seeds and pesticides

Reuters – Further deterioration in demand for glyphosate-based weed killers led Bayer BAYGn.DE to cut its full-year earnings outlook and announce a 2.5 billion euro ($2.8 billion USD) write-down on glyphosate-related assets. In an unscheduled statement late on Monday, the German drugs and pesticides maker said it was projecting 2023 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation


Quick adapting and designed to spread, kochia seems biologically primed to pick off the punches farmers throw at it.

On the ropes against kochia

Growers face a formidable foe. Fast mutations and efficient seed spread are a tough one-two combination

Kill it with fire. That was the gist in 2018, after a photo of post-spray kochia in Saskatchewan made the rounds on social media. The image showed a swath of dead, brown plants. That made the single, green plant right in the centre stand out even more. There was a collective recoil from farmers in

Photo: alisbalb/iStock/Getty Images

Feds lift ‘pause’ on increases in crop chemical MRLs

New set of rules also calls for 'cosmetic' pesticide use to be banned on federal lands

Proposals to increase a crop chemical’s maximum residue limits (MRLs) on foods and food crops in Canada can again seek federal approval, after being put on temporary hold two years ago. Among several other changes, a planned new package of federal regulatory amendments will put a gradual end to a “pause” imposed in August 2021