Better Farming - October 2016

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Most scientific reviews still
give glyphosate a clean bill
of health. But public fears
of cancer risk mean members of the
European Parliament, particularly
from France, Italy and the Nether-
lands, want it stopped. Glyphosate
may be applied to crops until the end
of 2017 but a decision regarding its
use in the 2018 crop year has yet to be
reached.
What does practical European
agriculture think of glyphosate’s fate?
First reactions indicate farmers and
their advisers are maybe a bit more
laid-back about the issue than might
be expected.
One reason is that continued use
of the herbicide has induced a degree
of resistance. Glyphosate is no longer
the silver bullet for grass weeds.
Hans-Peter Naunheim, product
manager for cereal herbicides for
Bayer in Germany, says: “We’ve got
Crop management after glyphosate:
the integrated approach
Europe is moving towards a full ban on the use of glyphosate. But farmers there, battling
pervasive weed resistance to the popular herbicide, are already coming up with alternatives.
By NORMAN DUNN
GLYPHOSATEALTERNATIVES
Just a few years on after an error in blackgrass control strategy, for
instance mistaking the timing of a glyphosate treatment, can lead to a
grass weed explosion in a crop. Here, a severely infested winter wheat
crop in Westphalia, Germany in May 2016.