REGINA (Staff) – The unspoken fear of zero till is a reliance on a single herbicide.
“We’re talking about a single-production system based on a single burn-off herbicide,” said Gerry Gross, of the Saskatchewan Water Corp.
“I don’t think that’s sustainable. Frankly, it scares me to death,” he said during a symposium on sustainable cropping in Regina.
The role of Roundup
Gross was referring to Roundup and the integral role it plays in controlling weeds in conservation farming – from spring burn-off of weeds to chemfallow to desiccating crops in the fall.
What happens if perennial weeds develop resistance to Roundup, Gross asked, adding farmers shouldn’t be too quick to sell their discers.
“I’ve seen very few weeds resistant to a cultivator,” he said.
Earlier, Joanne Buth, a weed specialist with Manitoba Agriculture in Carman, raised the same concern.
Weeds have become resistant to some herbicides already, and at some point it is assumed resistance to glyphosate will develop as well, she said.
Farmers have seen a growing resistance to some common herbicides, if they have been used continually.
