- Author: Brad Hanson
Today, instead of posting something about weed control and herbicide resistance in orchards and vineyards, I thought I'd go out on a limb and discuss weed management and herbicide resistance in... alfalfa! (Yes, it gets a little wild around the holidays at UC Weed Science...)
Anyway, while working on some articles for an upcoming volume of the California Weed Science Society Journal (CWSSJ), I was reminded of a really nice UCANR publication "Avoiding Weed Shifts and Weed Resistance in Roundup Ready Alfalfa Systems" by S....
- Author: Steve Orloff
Many growers have good intentions when it comes to controlling weeds in seedling alfalfa but often fields end up being treated beyond the optimum window. Proper application timing is critical for successful weed control in seedling alfalfa. Not only do weeds reduce the nutritional quality of the alfalfa and reduce alfalfa vigor, but weeds in seedling alfalfa can affect stand density potentially resulting in reduced alfalfa yield over the life of the stand. When herbicides are applied late, weed control can be improved somewhat by increasing the herbicide rate, but that is costly and often increases the potential for alfalfa injury.
In order to get the “most bang for your buck”, treat seedling alfalfa...
- Author: Jeannette Warnert
- Posted by: Gale Perez
During the 2000s, organic milk production was one of the fastest growing segments of organic agriculture in the United States, according to a USDA Economic Research Service publication Characteristics, Costs, and Issues for Organic Dairy Farming. In 2008, about 3 percent of the nation's cows were managed organically.
Among the conditions necessary for a cow to produce organic milk, she must eat only organic feed or browse on organic pasture for at least the previous 36 months. However, dairy producers have found that producing or sourcing organic feed – which must be grown without synthetic fertilizers, insecticides or herbicides – is...
- Posted By: Steve Orloff
- Written by: Steve Orloff
Roundup Ready (RR) alfalfa was the fifth glyphosate-tolerant crop to be commercialized in the United States following canola, soybeans, cotton and corn (1996, 1997, 1997, and 1998, respectively). Its release has been more contentious and highly disputed than any of its predecessors. Its introduction in the fall of 2005 was short lived and an injunction was issued by a circuit court judge in March of 2007 halting new plantings but allowing production on existing fields to continue. Roundup Ready alfalfa was deregulated for the second time in February of 2011 after a 4-year ban. Earlier this month a U.S. federal judge upheld this decision.
Growers and the alfalfa industry as a whole now have a full...
- Posted By: Gale Perez
- Written by: Posted by David Low, The Weed's News; by Bob Egelko, The Chronicle
[The Chronicle 07 jan, 2012 by Bob Egelko] -- A federal U.S. judge has upheld the government's decision to let the nation's alfalfa growers plant the genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant strain manufactured by Monsanto Co., saying the alleged risk of contaminating other crops does not require regulators to impose buffer zones. The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the use of Roundup Ready alfalfa - so named because it is designed to withstand Monsanto's Roundup herbicide - in January 2011, ending a nationwide ban that another judge had imposed in March 2007. The action was challenged by a group of alfalfa farmers who said they feared that the Monsanto product, spread by winds and bees, would pollinate their crops and take...