Minnesota farmers will be part of a nationwide survey intended to help researchers better understand the spread of herbicide-resistant weeds.
The survey will be emailed Nov. 20 to about 10,000 farmers nationwide, selected for diversity of farm size, crops grown and geographic locations. The multi-state team of university researchers hope to gain better insights into herbicial resistance in corn, soybeans, sugar beets and cotton - its causes, consequences and strategies to cope.
The survey will take 30 to 45 minutes to complete. Responses from individual farmers will remain confidential.
"Farmers are the front lines of herbicide resistance," University of Minnesota Extension agronomist Jeff Gunsolus, who represents the state on the research team, says in a news release. "The information they can provide will be essential to help build an effective response to the growing problem of herbicide-resistant weeds."
He says, "The survey will help the research team better understand the human dimensions of herbicide resistance as well as how these weeds are spreading."
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Terry Hurley, University of Minnesota agricultural economics professor, also is on the research team.
The research is supported by an Agriculture and Food Research Initiative grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The team of weed scientists, economists and sociologists is led by Mike Owen, associate chair of the agronomy department and Extension specialist at Iowa State University. In addition to Gunsolus and Hurley, scientists on the team represent Michigan State University, Portland State University, North Carolina State University, the University of Arkansas, the University of Arizona and Mississippi State University.
