Part 1: Variety is key to effective, lasting weed control

HPPD-resistant weeds point to the need for diversity in herbicides, practices

Effective row crop weed control is a combination of the right herbicides, timely applications, and cultural practices like crop rotation and tillage. A balanced approach leverages multiple herbicide active ingredients (AI) in an integrated system that keeps year-over-year weed pressures below economic thresholds and enables crops to reach full yield potential without competition for resources from weeds.

📸: BASF internal photograph/Featuring the official BASF "Resist the resistance." logo.

Don't Get Stuck in a Rut: Diversify Herbicides to Avoid Resistance

While one specific herbicide chemistry may devastate weeds for a few years after it enters the market, the repeated application of a single AI over time in the same production system can create massive, long-lasting, and costly headaches for retailers and farmers. Even with proven, effective AI and modes of action (MOA), the best products will eventually succumb to lost efficacy and herbicide resistance unless they’re applied prudently and as part of a broader, diversified strategy to control yield-robbing weeds.

“If you're not managing weeds effectively today by diversifying your strategy, weed control is going to become a really big problem in terms of dollars, time, and equipment in the future,” said BASF Technical Services Representative Kurt Maertens. “Ever since 1996, we've had all these active ingredients and modes of action, and farmers have evolved and advanced their weed control as a result. We need to make sure we maintain their efficacy.”

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