Needs and Opportunities for Integrated Weed Management in New York State Agricultural Crops

NYS IPM Type: Project ReportIntegrated Weed Management (IWM) offers many potential benefits to growers, but IWM outreach should be tailored fit the context of the commodity and the individual growers in order to be utilized. Therefore, I assessed needs of growers in each commodity and evaluated the potential for IWM to address those needs. A multitude of needs and opportunities were identified, including herbicide resistance in field crops, improved use of cultivation in vegetables, methods to control perennial weeds in fruit, and ways to improve use of mulch in ornamentals. A key opportunity across commodities is to determine the most appropriate ways to diversify production and management - a key aspect of successful ecological weed control. I hope to build on this initial assessment and use it to guide my future research and extension efforts