Article: Glyphosate’s Declining Weed Suppressing Capabilities Over 25 Years

by | Feb 28, 2024 | Agronomy

“When glyphosate-tolerant crops were first adopted, weed control was high in every environment; however, year after year glyphosate performance became less consistent,” said co-author Marty Williams, an ecologist with the USDA-ARS and affiliate professor of crop sciences. “For example, glyphosate provided nearly 100% control of a given species in most plots in the mid-1990s. But over time, acceptable weed control became rarer, often deteriorating below 50%, 30%, and worse.”1

We do a lot of reading around here at BASS. This is an article from No-Till Farmer that we stumbled on this week. Here is the study that the article references.

These results illustrate the rapid adaptation of agronomically important weed species to the paradigm-shifting product glyphosate. Including more diversity in weed management systems is essential to slowing weed adaptation and prolonging the usefulness of existing and future technologies.2

Christopher Landau, Kevin Bradley, Erin Burns, Michael Flessner, Karla Gage, Aaron Hager, Joseph Ikley, Prashant Jha, Amit Jhala, Paul O Johnson, William Johnson, Sarah Lancaster, Travis Legleiter, Dwight Lingenfelter, Mark Loux, Eric Miller, Jason Norsworthy, Micheal Owen, Scott Nolte, Debalin Sarangi, Peter Sikkema, Christy Sprague, Mark VanGessel, Rodrigo Werle, Bryan Young, Martin M Williams, II

With our background in contract research (and non-GMO breeding), we have never been able to use only glyphosate for weed control. We have a lot of experience with herbicides. Give us a call if you’re interested in moving away from glyphosate – we an help you not just survive but thrive without it!

It didn’t take long for Dicamba or 2,4-D either.3, 4

  1. Quinn, Lauren. “Glyphosate’s Declining Weed Suppressing Capabilities Over 25 Years.” No-Till Farmer. February 21, 2024. Link
  2. Landau, et al. “The silver bullet that wasn’t: Rapid agronomic weed adaptations to glyphosate in North America.” PNAS Nexus, Volume 2, Issue 12. December 2023. Link
  3. Anderson, Meaghan, Bob Hartzler and Michael D.K. Owen. “Dicamba-resistant Waterhemp in Iowa.” Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. September 5, 2023. Link
  4. Anderson, Meaghan and Michael D,K, Owen. “Suspected 2,4-D Resistant Waterhemp Population Discovered/” Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. February 12, 2024. Link