Posted: September 16th, 2017

This part of the assignment is to get you to think about the pattern of chemical use in cropping paddocks, what resistance problems are

This part of the assignment is to get you to think about the pattern of chemical use in cropping paddocks, what resistance problems are likely to occur, and how you might reduce the risk of this happening.
Pick two paddocks where you have access to about 4 years of paddock history (attached file)

Fill out the attached worksheet listing crop rotation, target weeds, and all the weed control operations.
Try to pick paddocks with different management – if possible, one of the paddocks should be zero till, or close to it.
I want to see actual paddock history rather than a ‘typical’ history, as the number of sprays actually applied is often surprising.
In your ‘role’ as cropping consultant for this property, you need to
• Comment on the good and bad aspects of this pattern of herbicide use and weed control, including

1. The frequency of use of different herbicides groups,
2. The exposure of different weed species/types to herbicides throughout each year and the rotation,
3. The risk of herbicide resistance developing for the chemical groups used, and
4. How many of the IWM tactic groups (Section 4 in the IWM manual) and good agronomic practices (Section 3) are currently being used to manage weeds.

Outline 3 IWM strategies which you could incorporate into weed management in one or both of these paddocks (pick strategies which do not rely on herbicides.
Make brief comments on how they would improve weed control/why they are likely to be effective.
Also, include comments on the practicality and ease/likelihood of adoption of each strategy in this farming system. (For these final comments, imagine that we are 15 years in the future, with several grass and broadleaf weeds with herbicide resistance, including glyphosate resistance – how do we manage??)