MANHATTAN, Kan. – A Kansas State University weed ecologist is encouraging the state’s producers to participate in a survey that she says will help with targeted weed control management strategies in the future.

Anita Dille said the 2021 Soybean and Corn Weed Management, Weed Escapes and Targeted Spraying Technologies survey is now available online or can be found in the Oct. 7 agronomy eUpdate from K-State Research and Extension.

“There's so many neat technologies out there now that are being developed and explored where we could be more precise and site specific in how we manage weeds,” Dille said.

Dille and her colleagues on this survey — Rodrigo Werle from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Chris Proctor from University of Nebraska-Lincoln — are intrigued to know what producers are seeing in their fields.

“We're looking at really understanding what kind of weed management people are practicing right now in regard to focusing on corn and soybean production systems in the Midwest,” Dille said.

She said the researchers want to hear responses from anyone in the industry, including farmers, crop consultants, extension agents and advisors.

Dille said some of the questions in the survey include:

  • How many acres of soybean or corn are they responsible for?
  • What does their current weed management program look like?
  • How many herbicide passes do they do?
  • Are they using appropriate integrated strategies in regard to pre- and post-herbicide applications?
  • Are they using other tools?
  • What weeds might their current strategies be missing?

“We want to know what weeds are escaping from producers’ management strategies and what we as weed scientists need to be looking at,” Dille said.

She added that the researchers would like to further understand producers' use of various technologies and whether they would be willing to adopt new technologies in their management strategies.

“We're really intrigued with getting a better handle on what our producers are seeing and what we're missing, and maybe we need to pull that into those winter schools that we do and sharing that information (that helps producers make) better plans for next year,” Dille said.

Ultimately, Dille said she hopes the survey will provide information to create an integrated weed management strategy that leads to economic and environmental benefits for producers.