Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2014

Abstract

Weeds are the most important pest problem in agronomic and non-crop systems, including water bodies. Dollar losses associated with weedy and invasive plant species in the U.S. alone are in the billions. Weeds are threatening many ecosystems and becoming more important in many state and federal programs. In developed countries, infestations result in decreased yields, often harbor deleterious insects and diseases, and increase commodity costs due to management and control. In many developing countries, weeds have the increased potential to become the major threat to agricultural cropping systems because of the lack of labor for manual weeding. Therefore, the importance of this community will potentially increase in future as these countries seek economic alternatives to sustain their food production systems. Further, elements of climate change may also increase the prevalence of new and invasive weeds and also enhance the competitive ability of existing weeds in both agricultural and non-agricultural ecosystems. These potential scenarios pose interesting challenges and opportunities to our community.

Publication Title

Crops, Soils, Agronomy News

Volume

59

Issue

9

First Page

18

DOI of Published Version

10.2134/csa2014-59-9-8

Publisher

American Society of Agronomy

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