Diversity Is Word One

Single Product Use Recipe for Resistance

Weed resistance is one of the biggest threats farmers face today, said Stephen Powles, director of the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative. (DTN photo by Pamela Smith)

FRANKFURT, Germany (DTN) -- The most important word in the world of agriculture today is diversity. That's the message Stephen Powles hopes he got across as he spoke to the Corn & Soybean Future Forum on Thursday, Oct. 30.

Over 190 farmers and members of the agriculture industry from around the globe were gathered in Frankfurt, Germany, to discuss issues confronting corn and soybean commodities. Bayer CropScience sponsored the two-day conference.

Powles, director of the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative, said weed resistance is especially critical because the biggest problems exist in the largest grain exporting nations of the world. "These are the nations that feed the world," Powles said. "We will not feed the world with watermelons.

"We will feed it with grains that can be stored and transported around the world," he added.

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Powles specifically pointed to the U.S. as the hotbed for resistance and blamed most of it on the heavy reliance on glyphosate-tolerant crops. "What would Charles Darwin have thought of that? The same chemical applied year in and out over a massive area had only one possible outcome -- the widespread distribution of glyphosate-resistant weeds," he said.

The weed scientist criticized farmers for squandering what he called "possibly the best herbicide that will be ever be created" -- comparing it to penicillin in terms of importance to human health through food production. "Glyphosate-resistant weeds can now be found on 24% of the crop land of the most production grain nation in the world," Powles said. Brazil and Argentina are also relying heavily on glyphosate with similar evolutionary outcomes, he said.

Once a herbicide is lost to resistance, it doesn't regain utility. Powles said "the weed remembers" and with multiple resistance more prominent, that leaves few herbicide options available in some crops.

The good news is growers who have not experienced glyphosate resistance can still take steps necessary to preserve its usefulness, Powles said. "It's economically possible. It just requires that you recognize change is needed. Diversity disrupts resistance evolution."

Hermann Stuebler, Bayer CropScience herbicide research, said herbicide companies pulled away from research during the glyphosate glory days. "Now I think we are back on the right track," Stuebler said. With 50 to 100 patents being applied for each year, there's hope on the herbicide horizon. "This summer we field tested a new compound that looked very promising," he told DTN. "However, it is still a very long way off -- maybe 10 years."

New research techniques and more understanding of plant biology are opening new doors. During a tour of Bayer's weed research center, Dirk Schmutzler said ultra-high-throughput phenotyping allows the company to screen 1 million compounds per year.

Harry Strek, also part of Bayer's weed research team, said growers need to remember that diversity means more than herbicides. "There is a weed in rice that changed to avoid hand weeding," said Strek.

Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com

(AG/CZ)

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