40 The Business of Ontario Agriculture Better Farming | January 2024 weeders will become more common, while weed zappers that electrically fry weeds have become more common than four years ago. I can see a future for sprayers that apply herbicides only on certain weeds and that find these weeds with cameras. There are also weeders that “pick” weeds out of a crop. I can see these machines as autonomous solar driven, probably only doing a narrow swath with each pass but can run 24/7. We can make maps to apply fertilizer at varying rates and places in a field. I think it’s a no-brainer that we’ll have more widespread use of sprayers applying different rates of herbicides on different parts of fields. We can change the rate of herbicide based on organic matter and pH. Also, some weeds tend to be worse in certain field areas. If you have an area of a perennial, such as perennial sow thistle, you would adjust your herbicide rate for those areas. Alternatively, you could have a separate spray tank and inject a second herbicide in certain areas of the field. We used to have “scour cleans” on some combines. This system removed weed seeds from the field. I predicted years ago we would have that system by now. We don’t. We do however have systems that grind weed seeds when they come from the combine. Other systems put chaff and weed seeds in a narrow row behind the combine. It’s suggested this can be burnt, but to me it would be easier and cheaper to collect these weed seeds and remove them from the field. Have a separate bin to collect weed seeds and then dispose of them. So, I predict (again) that someone will develop a system to remove weed seeds when they go through the combine. In the past we didn’t have new weeds to control. We do now. We’ve had glyphosate-resistant fleabane and then water hemp, which is resistant to five groups of herbicides, and now Palmer amaranth was found in Ontario in 2023. This weed has been documented to be resistant to nine modes of action. Resistant weeds come from overuse of one group of herbicides. It’s fairly easy to predict that we’ll have at least one more new weed in the next three to four years. It will be resistant to most widely used herbicides and will come from the U.S. Why are we getting more resistant weeds like water hemp and Palmer amaranth? There are several theories, including warmer climate and higher carbon dioxide levels. Certainly, fewer crops grown, especially fewer acres of perennial forages, is helping. I mentioned tillage as a means of weed control. Tillage has changed from multiple passes to fewer passes to some fields with no passes. But last year we saw a lot of unnecessary tillage. This was working soybean ground in the fall and led to soil degradation. I believe we will see less of this tillage-without-a-good-reason in the future. Peer pressure as well as fuel costs will reduce the amount of tillage. I believe we will see more cover crops planted into soybeans. Right now, of our six million acres of corn, soybeans and wheat, about 50 per cent is in soybeans. Of that three million acres of soybeans, at least two million acres goes into the winter unprotected. I’m not a big fan of the soybean crop because of how it degrades soil, but if we can get more cover crops on these soybean acres, it will be a win-win. Protect the soil and add organic matter. There are growers broadcasting winter wheat into soybeans as they drop leaves. I predict we will see more soybean fields with a cover crop of cereal rye broadcasted into soybeans, but with this comes a few issues to figure out, such as if the rye interferes with soybean harvest. In general, I think we’ve come a long way in tillage the past few years. As one agronomist said to me, “I think most farmers have tillage figured out,” and this figuring out crops: the lynch fileS Tillage can control weeds. Patrick Lynch photo
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