Growers are being asked to participate in a weed survey to better understand industry priorities for weed management technologies. The short survey seeks to know current weed management approaches and gauge the level of interest in different weeding technologies. Survey results will ultimately be used to help guide research priorities moving forward.
“Dr. Brad Hansen at UC Davis, Dr. Marcelo Moretti at Oregon State University, and myself are thinking about the future of weed control technology, particularly weed control technology in perennial specialty crops,” said Lynn Sosnoskie, Assistant Professor of Weed Science at Cornell University. “This is a ‘help us, help you’ scenario. That’s basically the premise of extension. We know that herbicides are only going to take us so far. We know that some of our stakeholders don’t want to use certain types of herbicides, or maybe certain herbicides aren’t allowed in certain export markets. So, we realize that we need to be really focused on expanding weed control technology.”
The team of weed scientists is encouraging participation of berry, tree fruit, tree nut, and vine crop growers. The survey asks basic questions of what types of crops are grown, on how many acres, and in what geographic area. Survey questions also ask about interest levels in types of technologies such as electrical weeders, steam or pressurized water weeders, and vision-guided sprayers or cultivators. It should not take more than 10 minutes to complete the survey which will better focus research efforts to align with industry interest.
“The survey is going to be up for the next couple of months, so you definitely have time to take it,” Sosnoskie noted. “What we’d like to really be able to do is say ‘okay, this is what the Northeast is interested in. This is what the Southeast is interested in. This is what the Western U.S. is interested in.’ That’s going to help us pull in collaborators from even more institutions to really build dynamic, forward-thinking research programs.”
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