A case for switching to sustainable herbicides to avert a perfect storm

Abstract

Glyphosate and paraquat are stalwart products for weed management used in Australia for over half a century. 50 years on, we face radical changes in the global weed landscape. Weed management today is influenced directly and indirectly by:
• Exponential growth in weed resistance
• Ballooning financial cost of weeds to Australian farmers and the economy, rising above $4.26 billion in 2023
• Future food security challenges
• Trade and domestic synthetic chemical bans
• Social and customer mandates and human health concerns
• Soil and environmental concern
• Diminishing viable alternatives to synthetic herbicides
These concerns are magnifying the need for Ecologically Sustainable Development and Environmentally Sustainable Governance reporting.
The continued use of these chemicals is problematic. The desire to adopt sustainable weed management practices is here, but a suitable product is not.
Sustainable herbicides have a poor global reputation for:
• Being expensive
• Lacking efficacy compared to traditional synthetic products
• Often requiring multiple applications and more product
• Corroding equipment due to acidity
• Impacting soil pH and health
• User friendliness
New herbicides with different modes of action are urgently needed to facilitate the evolution from entrenched herbicides. Yet no major new modes of action have been introduced to the marketplace for about 20 years.
To avoid the perfect storm, we need to evolve sustainable innovative weed management techniques and modes of action. This provides a wonderful and very timely opportunity for increased collaboration between all stakeholders to develop, trial and test new solutions for agriculture.
Ammonium Nonanoate has been trialled successfully in Australian non-crop environments. Trials in the US on uncontrolled weeds in pumpkin crops revealed weed control of 88%-98% and improved yields.
This paper addresses the use of ammonium nonanoate as one viable and sustainable weed management and defoliant option for future crops.