ISU Extension and Outreach offers herbicide and weeds training in August

AMES ? Weeds, herbicides and the effectiveness of herbicides to control weeds are topics of agronomic and economic importance to farmers and agribusinesses. It is so important that Iowa State University Extension and Outreach field agronomists are hosting Weeds Week, a weeklong series of informational meetings. The half-day sessions will be held Aug. 3-7 at five Iowa State University research farms.

?Farmers are challenged with producing crops and implementing effective weed management programs in a profitable manner,? said Virgil Schmitt, field agronomist with ISU Extension and Outreach in southeast Iowa. ?Our goal is to help farmers develop effective weed management plans.?

Schmitt said the meetings are intended to help farmers and ag retailers support each other in this process.

Each session will include presentations, hands-on weed management planning, small-group discussion and plot tours presented by extension field agronomists. In the farmer-oriented session, farmers will learn how to select herbicides from the herbicide effectiveness table, identify which herbicides to apply and develop their own four-year weed management plan. Agribusiness representatives will receive similar information, but it will be presented with a focus on how to support farmers and their operations.

The schedule has been developed so that the morning sessions will conclude with lunch and the afternoon sessions will begin with lunch, which is included in the registration.

On Aug. 3, a session will be held at the Southeast Research Farm located at 3115 Louisa-Washington Road near Crawfordsville. The first program will be at 9:30 a.m. for farmers. The second program will be at 1 p.m. for the people in agribusiness.