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National Summit on Strategies to Manage Herbicide-Resistant Weeds: Proceedings of a Workshop (2012)

Chapter: Addressing the Pressing Problem of Herbicide Resistance--Harold Coble

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Suggested Citation:"Addressing the Pressing Problem of Herbicide Resistance--Harold Coble." National Research Council. 2012. National Summit on Strategies to Manage Herbicide-Resistant Weeds: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13518.
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Addressing the Pressing Problem of Herbicide Resistance

Harold Coble
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service

This presentation is a discussion of how to address the problem of herbicide resistance, not from a technical perspective, but from a human perspective. Herbicide-resistant weeds are a game changer for agriculture just as drug-resistant microbes have been a game changer for the health care industry. Weed control today is chemically based. The reason nearly 100 percent of row crops are treated with herbicides is because nothing else comes close to the effectiveness and efficiency of herbicides in killing weeds over a wide area. Good weed management, on the other hand, involves the integration of many practices within the strategic approaches of prevention, avoidance, monitoring, and suppression. From the management perspective, one must assume that all fields have resistance present. That resistance may not have manifested itself yet in an actual plant and may not have been selected for yet, but because genes have many ways of moving around, proper management dictates that assumption. Weed resistance is an area-wide issue because of the propensity of weed resistance genes to move with ease from field to field. In the past, the next new chemical in the pipeline was used to solve resistance problems—no more. New mechanisms of action are not forthcoming in the near future, and a better job of integration must occur to preserve those valuable control tactics presently available. Successful systems in the future will be more management-intensive and involve more diversity of tactics. A mindset change may be necessary to fully incorporate these new, successful systems.

Suggested Citation:"Addressing the Pressing Problem of Herbicide Resistance--Harold Coble." National Research Council. 2012. National Summit on Strategies to Manage Herbicide-Resistant Weeds: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13518.
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KEY POINTS

images   Managing resistance requires a new mindset!

images   Herbicide-resistant weeds are a game changer for agriculture just as drug-resistant microbes have been a game changer for the health care industry.

o   They have occurred with multiple classes of chemistry.

o   They have evolved because of complacent management.

o   Managers need to be more observant and disciplined to avoid this problem.

images   The technology is not to blame—problem is based on how the technology was used.

images   All actors in the system (university, industry, agency, dealers, farmers) are to blame for the problem.

o   They must work together to find and implement solutions; only then can preparation meet opportunity.

images

Kochia (Kochia scoparia), courtesy of WildBoar (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fille:Kochia_scoparia_02.jpg).

Suggested Citation:"Addressing the Pressing Problem of Herbicide Resistance--Harold Coble." National Research Council. 2012. National Summit on Strategies to Manage Herbicide-Resistant Weeds: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13518.
×
Page 15
Suggested Citation:"Addressing the Pressing Problem of Herbicide Resistance--Harold Coble." National Research Council. 2012. National Summit on Strategies to Manage Herbicide-Resistant Weeds: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13518.
×
Page 16
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Preserving the efficacy of herbicides and of herbicide-resistance technology depends on awareness of the increasing resistance of weeds to herbicides used in agriculture and coordinated action to address the problem by individuals at the farm level and beyond. This summit served as a venue to bring the attention of important stakeholders to the issue and as an opportunity for experts from diverse disciplines to strategize in a coordinated way to address herbicide-resistant weeds.

In convening stakeholders for this event, participants took a step toward a recommendation from the 2010 National Research Council report The Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States that federal and state government agencies, private-sector technology developers, universities, farmer organizations, and other relevant stakeholders collaborate to document emerging weed-resistance problems and to develop cost-effective resistance-management programs and practices that preserve effective weed control. The summit provided the opportunity for stakeholders to explore the scientific basis of the emergence of herbicide resistance and to consider different perspectives on both opportunities and barriers to overcoming the problem of herbicide-resistant weeds. National Summit on Strategies to Manage Herbicide-Resistant Weeds contains a brief synopsis of key points made by each speaker at the summit.

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