Starting weed-free (also known as “starting clean”) means planting into fields without emerged weeds, which provides the crop with the best chance to establish early and compete with weeds.

Approximately 30 percent of the world's total land is too acidic to support crop production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, a solution may lie in a strand of corn that is able to grow successfully in acidic soil, thanks to a genetic variation recently identified with help from the University of Florida Genetics Institute.