MSU Weed Tour educates Mich. growers

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More than 250 farmers, growers and chemical company representatives sat with their feet dangling off the sides of wagons Wednesday as tractors pulled them into corn and soybean fields for the 2010 MSU Weed Tour.

The annual tour, sponsored by MSU’s departments of Crop and Soil Sciences and Horticulture, took place in fields near the MSU Plant Pathology Field Lab on College Road and allowed growers from across the state to look at research plots and make comparisons for weed treatments.

“The biggest thing they take away, as a whole, is just an increased knowledge of what’s out there and what the new research is and what’s coming — getting a look into the future when they’re making their decisions,” said Wesley Everman, an assistant professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and one of the tour’s guides.

The tour’s response always is positive, and those who attend find it to be more beneficial than reading results posted online, said Christy Sprague, associate professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and MSU Extension specialist.

“A lot of stuff we look at is different weed control strategies, so what works and what doesn’t work,” Sprague said. “They can actually see what’s going on and (they’re) not just looking at numbers and reports.”

Ira Krupp, an MSU Extension educator from Mendon, Mich., primarily farms corn and soybeans on a 400-acre farm and has been coming to the tour periodically during the past five years.

“What’s nice about coming here is it’s unbiased and validated with research,” Krupp said. “You know that the data is accurate and not skewed by a chemical company.”

The field plots showed which herbicides were used and their prices, always with a non-treated plot next to them for easy comparison.

“I look for products that work better, are cheaper and more protective of the environment,” Krupp said.

When people arrived for the tour, they received a tour book that gave a layout of the plots — including corn, soybeans and other horticultural crops — so growers and consultants had the option of a self-directed tour.

Erin Taylor, a crop and soil sciences graduate student, also works full-time as a research associate for the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and was responsible for taking pictures to post on a blog for MSU’s weed science research.

“It brings a lot of people together and makes growers aware of their options,” Taylor said.

MSU alumnus Bill Ritter, a salesperson at Green Valley Agricultural, Inc., in West Olive, Mich., said he came to find unbiased information for his customers, who buy the company’s agricultural products. The tour also allowed him to catch up with other growers across the state.

“Networking with people is a big thing since agricultural communities are small,” Ritter said.

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