Manitoba Agriculture’s 2018 in-season survey now documents 12 municipalities with glyphosate-resistant kochia.

Glyphosate-resistant kochia confirmed in 12 municipalities in 2018

Testing is the only way to confirm how widespread glyphosate-resistant kochia is in Manitoba

When Tammy Jones’ phone rang last year as often as not it was farmers fed up with kochia spreading in their fields. The Manitoba Agriculture weeds specialist dubbed the tumbleweed ‘weed of 2018,’ in a talk at St. Jean Farm Days last week. “We saw a lot of it,” she said. “It felt like anyone

A depiction of the herbicide molecule (top), which inhibits an enzyme (bottom) that plants need.

Neutralizing weeds’ defence system

Researchers identify a new mechanism to battle herbicide resistance

Plants and unseen soil micro-organisms all need precious space to grow. And to gain that space, a microbe might produce and use chemicals that kill its plant competitors. But the microbe also needs immunity from its own poisons. By looking for that protective shield in micro-organisms, specifically the genes that can make it, a team


Webinar Australia: Chemical company BASF has launched a free resource for farmers on herbicide resistance, including lessons from Australia.

Transplanting herbicide-resistance advice from Down Under

Australia has something to teach Canadian farmers about herbicide resistance, at least, according to BASF’s latest online resource

On the other side of the world, farmers have learned some valuable insights about herbicide resistance that you can share. In Australia they’ve long been fighting this battle and the land Down Under has learned some tough lessons. The International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds found Canada is third in the world in terms of

Editorial: In the weeds

Canada has a brewing weed problem, and we’re not talking about the looming legalization of cannabis. This is an older problem, but with a modern twist, in the form of constant selection pressure from chemical control products and the resulting herbicide-resistant weeds. Manitoba farmers have the dubious distinction of being among the first in the

Glyphosate-resistant kochia is still rare in Manitoba, but the time to prevent it from spreading is now.

ON THE GROW: Herbicide resistance is spreading quickly

Manitoba Agriculture is warning about new and looming threats when it comes to resistant weeds

Manitoba’s provincial weed specialist is urging a harder line on herbicide resistance. “Zero tolerance is really where you need to be,” Tammy Jones of Manitoba Agriculture said. “Controlling your escapes. Control them with mowing; control them with tillage. If you really want to, control them with hand weeding, but if you have resistant wild oats


Agronomist Peter Johnson doesn’t like Manitoba’s tight rotations.

Tight crop rotations in the hot seat

Rotations were a major point as discussions turned to blackleg during this year’s BASF Knowledge Harvest

It’s all but impossible to eliminate sclerotinia and blackleg from the field, but it’s also a mistake to assume crop genetics alone will manage the problem. BASF technical service specialist Colleen Redlick said farmers need to broaden their approach during the BASF Knowledge Harvest in Brandon earlier this winter. Resistance breakdown, something the industry has

AAFC’s Bob Blackshaw talks herbicide-resistance problems and solutions at Brandon’s BASF Knowledge Harvest Feb. 13.

Manage herbicide resistance in the tank and out

Industry is pushing both chemical and non-chemical solutions to growing herbicide-resistance problems in Manitoba

It’s time to expand the tool box when it comes to managing weeds. That was the message to attendees at this year’s BASF Knowledge Harvest in Brandon Feb. 13. As of 2015, there were 65 unique weed-resistance cases in Canada, AAFC’s Bob Blackshaw said, a number that rose from near negligible in 1975 and sat

Kochia seedlings, part of a U.S. study of the weed, emerge in a field at 
Garden City, Kansas.

Keeping kochia in check

New research indicates the importance of early-season control of herbicide-resistant kochia

Herbicide-resistant kochia is a big problem in the U.S. Great Plains states, and has appeared in limited numbers in Manitoba over the past few years. Now researchers, writing in the latest edition of the journal Weed Science, are beginning to reveal more about how the weed works. Kochia typically begins to emerge in the U.S.


VIDEO: Fighting herbicide resistance in weeds

VIDEO: Fighting herbicide resistance in weeds

Provide a healthy, competitive crop stand to help battle back weed pressures

“If you don’t put a crop plant there on that spot in the field, a weed’s gonna grow,” says Rob Gulden, professor of weed science at the University of Manitoba. Gulden was referring to one strategy producers can use to help fight herbicide-resistant weeds, and that is by increasing their seeding rates. In this interview with

Herbicide-resistant Palmer amaranth can devastate crop yields.

Palmer amaranth resistance more complex

Two new mechanisms for herbicide resistance 
have been found in Palmer amaranth

Scientists are continuing to discover just what a difficult foe the weed Palmer amaranth can be. It can cause yield losses as high as 80 per cent for soybean growers and has already developed resistance to six classes of herbicide since its discovery in North America 100 years ago. It’s recently been found in North