A quick post today to share a few links and reposts that I found interesting recently.
The first is a link to a video on the television program, CBS Sunday Morning. In this program from a week ago, weeds were the focus. Click here for a link to the video. The main focus (and most interesting to me as a herbicide resistance researcher) was the main segment where Dr. Stanley Culpepper from the University of Georgia talked very frankly about the issues that southeastern cotton growers are facing from glyphosate-resistant palmer amaranth. A couple of other weed and weed control issues - controlling phragmites with goat grazing; as well as "kudzu, the weed that ate the South" - were discussed in the same video.
Second, is a link to a Forbes magazine opinion article by a UC Davis colleague, Dr. Pamela Ronald who hyphothesized that Rachel Carson would have supported the use of genetic engineering in agriculture. She suggested that "... we can't and shouldn't run away from 'digital agriculture' ". Click here for the article and to read the follow up comments supporting and arguing with her premise.
Third, a link to a Weed Science Society of America press release "WSSA pesticide steward shop series - Safety begins at the point of sale". This release discusses several important facts about the regulations governing pesticide sales.
Finally, click here for a link to an online article about how drought may impact weeds for years following the dry weather period because of differential response to the stress - weeds are often more 'plastic' than crops and can produce some seed and spread under stress conditions that may prove too much for the crops.
Take care,
Brad