We hear so much about the dangers of disease resistant to antibiotics. But the same is going on in the fight against weeds in the ag industry
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Weeds are winning again, with herbicide-resistant strains emerging from 273 weed species, developing resistances to any of 168 different herbicides, and, more concerningly, developing resistance to 21 out of the 31 known modes of action, which are the biochemical targets of the chemicals that kill the plants. Water hemp, for instance, grows an inch per day or more, and is now resistant to seven classes of herbicides. That’s quite bad, as season-long water hemp can cut soybean yields by 44 percent and cut corn yields by 15 percent.
Douglas Main, MIT Technology Review
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