One fact was apparent last week after attending two consultant meetings and the Mid-South Farm & Gin Show in Memphis. No matter where you turned, there was another recommendation on how farmers should deal with weed resistance this year.
Any farmer who doesn’t have a strategy for combatting this problem can’t blame the industry for lack of recommendations. That’s the encouraging aspect about how the cotton industry attacks certain problems. Nobody sits back and remains complacent. For example, since resistant pigweed was initially discovered several years ago in Georgia, it seems that timely recommendations are coming from everywhere. Nowhere was that more evident than last week in Memphis.
It started off with consultant meetings at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Memphis. On consecutive days, MANA and DuPont sponsored these events where a wide range of topics was addressed. Included in those meetings were specific recommendations on burndown timing and residual herbicide programs. The feedback from the audience was positive, and producers weren’t shy about asking questions of the presenters.
These kinds of meetings have always been successful. The company sponsoring the event can use the meeting to showcase new crop protection products to consultants, while also communicating a message about a timely topic, such as weed resistance.
Following the two consultant meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, Monsanto hosted the media on Friday afternoon at the Marriott Hotel for a similar type meeting. The company introduced its new Roundup Ready Xtend Crop System for weed control and increased yields. In addition, a lively discussion occurred on the potential benefits of double-crop cotton behind wheat.
Whether it’s a recommendation from a crop protection company, Extension, researchers or consultants, the cotton industry knows how to tackle a problem. It doesn’t sit around waiting for the government to solve its problems. It mobilizes and tries to find workable solutions as quickly as possible.
For that, farmers should be extremely thankful.