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Pacific Northwest Herbicide Resistance Initiative (PNWHRI) – Take the Problem Weeds Survey!

Posted by Doug Finkelnburg, University of Idaho | November 30, 2022

Good news everyone! Pacific Northwest land grant universities and three regional USDA-ARS units are launching a new Herbicide Resistance Initiative! Our goal is nothing short of creating a coordinated, interdisciplinary, systems-based approach to managing herbicide resistance in weeds that is regional in scope and long-term in impact. Supported by all PNW small grains commodity commissions and grain producer’s organizations and approved by congress last spring, the PNWHRI will provide ongoing support for programs and projects focused on managing herbicide-resistant weeds across the PNW with a special focus on cereals producing regions.

Teamwork makes the dream work! Interdisciplinary PNWHRI teams are forming around common research and outreach goals which should speed new knowledge production and better management practice adoption in coming years. USDA-ARS units at Pullman, Washington and Pendleton, Oregon are adding new research personnel dedicated to supporting this project. Initial project funds are supporting some much-needed equipment purchases at our land grant university weed science programs, expanding their capacity to conduct fundamental and applied science.

Beyond a welcome investment in herbicide resistance related hard science, the PNWHRI supports social science efforts to understand and potentially address reluctance to adopt practices which will mitigate or prevent development of herbicide resistant weeds. Finally, Extension programs at our three land-grant universities will be in the thick of things, transferring new knowledge developed through the PNWHRI research efforts into educational products for growers and agricultural professionals.

To that end, one of the initial Extension efforts is to help define which weeds are currently giving PNW grain producers headaches, where they are, and what kind of production system they are being found in. Oh, and if any of these weed populations are herbicide resistant, we’re pretty interested in that too. You can participate in our regional problem weeds survey our regional problem weeds survey here or by following the QR code to the survey link. No personal data is collected, and we’ll be accepting responses over the winter at various grower meetings our three land grant institutions (The University of Idaho, Washington State University, and Oregon State University) host. Results will help shape the PNWHRI’s further research and outreach efforts going forward.

PNWHRI Problem Weeds Survey QR Code


Hold your phones camera up to the code and select the pop-up link to access the survey.

All too often herbicide resistance news is negative; another resistant population found or found in another place it hadn’t been before or another active ingredient added to the list of, “well it still works in some places, but…”. It is wonderful to have something positive to discuss when the topic of herbicide-resistant weeds comes up, and the PNWHRI is something to celebrate.

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