Thursday, October 10, 2024

The weeds are winning against pesticides. Really!

It is only a matter of time that human ingenuity will tackle this issue! 

No reason for alarmism and hysteria!

But it also tells us that nature is much more able to adopt than we acknowledge!

"Since the 1980s, more and more plants have evolved to become immune to the biochemical mechanisms that herbicides leverage to kill them. This herbicidal resistance threatens to decrease yields—out-of-control weeds can reduce them by 50% or more, and extreme cases can wipe out whole fields.

At worst, it can even drive farmers out of business. It’s the agricultural equivalent of antibiotic resistance, and it keeps getting worse. Weeds have evolved resistance to 168 different herbicides and 21 of the 31 known “modes of action,” which means the specific biochemical target or pathway a chemical is designed to disrupt.

Agriculture needs to embrace a diversity of weed control practices. But that’s much easier said than done. ..."

The weeds are winning

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