The Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) continues to innovate in its quest to seek out optimum methods to handle weeds. An upcoming occasion on weed electrocution is one initiative, amongst a number of others, that WSSA and its committee on Focused and Autonomous Weed Management Expertise are selling to help rising applied sciences in agriculture.
On Wednesday, July 23, 2025, Ryan Hamberg, a WSSA member scientist, will reasonable a Farmer Discussion board on Weed Electrocution within the Discipline webinar, hosted by GROW (Getting Rid of Weeds) at 11 a.m. Japanese Time. In keeping with GROW, “The discussion board’s farmer panel and moderator will discover how electrical weed management models match right into a weed administration program.”
New weed electrocution applied sciences present nice potential to assist farmers throughout North America to beat herbicide resistance by offering an alternative choice that enhances and/or reduces chemical use, says Hamberg, who’s a Texas A&M College graduate analysis assistant in agronomy. “We’re testing a first-of-its-kind inter-row electrical weeder in annual row crops, and the outcomes are promising,” he says. “Our preliminary outcomes recommend that only one move of inter-row electrical weeding is as efficient as utilizing a cultivator for inter-row tillage, with the most important benefit of not disturbing the soil.”
Growers and researchers on this expertise ought to contemplate attending the GROW Farmer Discussion board on weed electrocution, suggests Hamberg. “The webinar will characteristic two revolutionary growers who’ve intensive data and expertise utilizing electrical weeders on their farms,” he says. “As electrical weeders turn out to be more and more frequent, their potential to turn out to be extra autonomous can be growing.”
Weed electrocution is only one promising expertise that targets problematic weeds for sustainable and environment friendly management, factors out Nathan Boyd, Ph.D., College of Florida horticulture/weed science professor and WSSA’s Focused and Autonomous Weed Management Expertise Committee chair. “WSSA has plans to companion with different organizations like GROW to realize its objectives of selling precision farming and autonomous weed management improvements,” he says. “These plans embody offering a symposium on Focused and Autonomous Weed Management Applied sciences on the WSSA annual assembly in Raleigh, North Carolina, throughout February 2026.”
Different new weed management applied sciences which are garnering curiosity embody lasers, focused spraying and focused cultivation, provides Boyd. “By no means in my profession have I skilled such speedy development in novel weed administration applied sciences like we’re seeing right now,” he says. “We’re within the midst of a change of how weeds are managed, and the self-discipline of Weed Science might be modified eternally.”
Greg Dahl, WSSA previous president and WSSA board of administrators liaison for the Focused and Autonomous Weed Management Expertise Committee, agrees. “We’re enthusiastic about these promising new weed management applied sciences, that are superb when utilized in an built-in weed administration program,” he says, “We will’t depend on herbicides alone to unravel each weed downside; it takes all types of instruments that work collectively to succeed.”
