Many Little Hammers

Weeds continue to be a significant challenge for may organic arable producers and was a subject under discussion at our Crop Storage event last week.

Weed management has been a real challenge this season for many producers with wet conditions preventing many weed cultivations through this Spring.  For both inter-row and spring tine cultivation systems weeds have "got away" from many farmers and are being reported at high levels.  This problematic Spring followed the dry autumn which probably reduced pre-cultivation weed germination. 


With greater viable seeds being left in the soil entering the cropping season and little opportunity to control weeds in the crop the resulting weed burden is higher.


So perhaps the weaknesses in the approach many producers are taking has been exposed this season due to climatic conditions.  Thinking about this I did some internet hunting and came across this great video from Canadian Organic Science Conference which has put videos of its presentations online.  One speaker Eric Gallandt introduced the idea of "Many Little Hammers" to weed control.  The idea being that we need several different approaches to weed control within our farming systems in order to manage weeds effectively.  


The video of his presentation is available at www.cerebralfocus.com/cosc/webcast/, look for the link on the right-hand side- its at the bottom of the first block "Keynotes & Panel".  It is 45 mins long but is well worth taking the time to watch as he introduces his topic well and will challenge your approach to weed control and make you think about how you might do things differently.

Back to the discussions at the Crop Storage event.  The most problematic weed being discussed was Wild Oat and so Organic Arable will be organising an event (probably next Spring) to explore Wild Oat management.