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Herbicide-resistant weeds impacting farmers

June 6, 2012  By Press release


June 6, 2012, Mississauga, Ont – According to a recent poll conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of BASF Canada Inc. (BASF), three out of four Canadian growers say herbicide-resistant weeds are impacting their bottom line.

The telephone poll, conducted in March 2012, included a sample of 500 farmers in Western and Eastern Canada with minimum acre thresholds.

“We are not surprised by these findings,” says Michael Schaad, BASF business manager for Eastern Canada crop protection. “Resistance is becoming a bigger issue and growers are starting to understand the impacts.”

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Group 2 and triazine (Group 5) resistant weeds have been a nuisance to control for decades, and continue to rob farmers of yield. Most recently, Group 2 resistance has been discovered in Quebec for Eastern black nightshade (EBNS), ragweed and pigweed. Glyphosate resistance has been most prevalent lately with the discovery of glyphosate-resistant kochia in the Prairies, and Canada fleabane and giant ragweed in Ontario.

According to the poll, one in two farmers say weeds in their fields are getting tougher to control and most strongly agree that they use herbicides from more than one group to manage their weeds.

“Rotate your crops and your herbicide chemistry groups, use herbicides with multiple modes of action and use full label use rates whenever possible,” says Schaad.

Full tabular results of this poll are available at www.ipsos.ca.


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