East Lansing, MI – Soybean farmers are turning away from conservation agriculture practices that protect soil and environmental health to manage herbicide resistant weeds, say researchers in Michigan State University’s (MSU) Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics (AFRE). In a new study published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Braeden Van Deynze (now a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Washington), Scott Swinton (MSU), and David Hennessy (MSU), examined the herbicide and tillage records of thousands of soybean farmers across the United
Hoes to Herbicides: Reflecting on the last century of weed control and preparing for the next
By Braeden Van Deynze, a PhD student working with Dr. Scott Swinton in the Department of Ag Food & Resource Economics at Michigan State University. Dr. Swinton is also one of the lead scientists with the Kellogg Biological Station Long-term Ecological Research (KBS LTER) program. Here Braeden explains their work taking a long-term view of weed management in the United States, in press in the European Journal of Development Research. ~~~~~~~ Since the dawn of agriculture, farmers have done battle with weeds. These unwanted pests grow in competition with crops, siphoning off nutrients,