MSU Extension offering herbicide resistance workshops

MSU News Service

BOZEMAN — Montana State University Extension offices in the Golden Triangle will host free herbicide-resistance workshops Feb. 19 in Conrad and Fort Benton. The workshops will cover subjects including herbicide-resistant weeds, management, perspectives from the industry and improving herbicide effectiveness.

The Conrad workshop will be held at the Pondera Shooting Sports Complex, 972 Granite Road, while the Fort Benton workshop will be held at the Ag Center at 1205 20th St. Both locations will open with registration at 10 a.m., and workshops will conclude at 4 p.m. Lunch is provided. An RSVP is requested by Feb. 15. 

Several speakers will discuss an array of agricultural topics:

• Prashant Jha, associate professor at the Southern Agricultural Research Center at the MSU College of Agriculture and the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, will discuss herbicide resistance and chemical, cultural and mechanical weed control practices for herbicide management.

• Jared Unverzagt, technical service representative at the BASF Corporation, will discuss industry perspectives on herbicide resistance and new trait technologies.

• Shelley Mills, MSU Extension agriculture agent in Valley County, will speak about Palmer amaranth, a type of pigweed that has devastated crops in the South and Midwest. It has now been identified in North Dakota.

• Mat Walter, MSU Extension agriculture agent in Musselshell and Golden Valley counties, will discuss factors affecting herbicide efficiency and how it contributes to herbicide resistance.

• Lunch speakers in Fort Benton include Bill Evans from the Chouteau County Farm Service Agency and Marni Thompson, from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. They will discuss tillage compliance when managing resistant weeds.

• During lunch at the Conrad workshop, Tom Stott, territory manager for Cargill, will update producers about new canola varieties.

Representatives from Corteva, Wilbur-Ellis, CHS, Mountain View Co-op and Centrol Crop Consulting will have a panel discussion on the industry perspective on herbicide resistance and what they are doing to help mitigate the problem. Company participation may vary in each location.

A total of six pesticide education credits are available for attendance at either location.

For questions regarding the event or to RSVP for the Fort Benton workshop, people can contact Tyler Lane, MSU Extension in Chouteau County, at 406-622-3751 or [email protected]. For questions or to RSVP for the Conrad workshop, people can contact Adriane Good, MSU Extension in Pondera County, at 406-271-4054 or [email protected].