The main concern with all plant protection areas including
weeds, insects and diseases is to manage for the single biggest threat facing
production agriculture today and that is managing for development of resistance
to current control measures.
We believe that development of pest resistance including
weeds, insects and diseases is the single biggest threat facing production
agriculture for the foreseeable future. Use of pesticides does not cause
resistance to develop neither does it cause pests to mutate. But rather the
over reliance on using single chemistries repeatedly on the same field and same
pest year over year selects for the natural biotypes that exist in every
population of pests that is naturally resistant. We simply kill off the
susceptible ones each year and select for the resistant ones until such a time
they dominate the field population and become resistant to the pesticide and it
no longer appears to work.
The chemistry has not changed the pest population has due to
our management of the pesticide applied.
The term pesticide includes herbicides, insecticides and
fungicides. The over use of any can start us down the path of selecting for
resistance biotypes.
The tactic we need to adopt and have for some time is to use
tank mixes of different chemistries with different modes of action that work on
the pest. This approach greatly reduces selection pressure for resistant
biotypes. The only exception to this is for insecticides. It is more important
to deliver a lethal dose the first time with a single mode of action then
rotate to another insecticide for the next generation of pest.
We must protect the crop protection chemistry or risk running
out of control options. There no new modes of action in the pipeline in the
short term and if or when they do come to market, they will have very strict
stewardship guidelines to follow and protect the longevity of the chemistry.
Every form of control places a selection pressure on a pest population.
Weed resistance is our most common issue we face, we
currently have Canada Fleabane resistant to glyphosate (Group 9) and most Group
2 chemistries . Water Hemp is another that is already resistant to 2,5,9 and 14
chemistries. We need to accept that weed control cost will increase as we must
adopt a two-pass control system with multiple modes of action. A burndown
application with residual chemistry followed in crop with an additional final
pass to clean up. We need to adopt a zero weed seed return policy and start
cleaning up waste areas to prevent seeds blowing in from surrounding areas.
Our staff receives training on a continuous basis to stay
current on control practices. One of the services we offer is Crop Planning. In
that exercise we start with the farm, field, crop and make specific product
recommendations based on the pests involved and make sure we are using multiple
modes of action that are effective in controlling the pest. Time well spent
with us.
To understand the enormity of the task and the scope of
efforts made by dedicated industry participants and academics to support the
science-based approach to pest management worldwide and understand the modes of
action and risks of resistance development can be found here in these
international working groups
Herbicides
https://www.hracglobal.com/
Insecticides
https://www.irac-online.org/
Fungicides
https://www.frac.info/