Update:
Here is a chronological report by quarter. Starting in September of 2015 and during the fourth quarter of 2014, most of the PI’s were able to meet in Columbia, MO on September 16 and 17 to discuss a number of weed management issues faced in 2014 and our progress on this USB funded project. Osborn and Barr also attended this meeting and gave us an update on their work with the website, herbicide mode of action chart and pocket guide, and plans for the future. At this meeting we discussed the writing of additional weed factsheets and a timeline for finishing these up for the winter meeting season. In addition, the purpose of this meeting is to share information with each other just prior to updating weed control recommendations. Each state spent considerable time update their weed control guides in the fall. These printed materials are arguably the most used piece of information produced by the PI’s each year.

During the first quarter of 2015, over 300 meetings were held in which various topics related to herbicide resistant weeds were either the primary focus of the meeting or discussed in depth as part of the larger meeting. These meetings reached over 30,000 people with most of the audience comprised of farmers and secondarily, crop advisors and crop input suppliers. Folders containing the “Take Action” educational materials were distributed to over 20,000 individuals during the winter meeting season. Osborn and Barr provided 10,000 copies and the participating states printed an additional 10,000 copies for distribution.

During the second quarter, I asked the co-PI’s to provide some estimates of the impact of our efforts for the quarterly report due in June of 2015. Here is a state by state breakdown of the adoption of better management practices for herbicide-resistant weeds:

NCSU – 15-30%
U of Missouri – 80%
U of Illinois – 75%
U of Tennessee – Growers who made changes based on UT weed control recommendations. 96%
TN crop consultants who made changes based on UT weed control recommendations. 100%
U of Arkansas – 80%
NDSU – see attached reports
Kansas State U – 50%
Michigan State U – 20%
Purdue University – 50%
U of Kentucky - We do not have a good answer for this question - we are observing a greater use of soil residual herbicides in soybean which are being applied along with some producers planting LL-soybean. In addition, it seems that more of our crop fields are being scouted (at least looked at more frequently throughout the season), but we do not have specific information on this.

During the 3rd quarter, 107 field days, workshops, and meetings were held in which various topics related to herbicide resistant weeds were either the primary focus of the meeting or discussed in depth as part of the larger meeting. These events were comprised of farmers, crop advisors and crop input suppliers. Folders containing the “Take Action” educational materials were distributed to at these meetings.

Overall, over 400 field days, workshops, and meetings were held in which various topics related to herbicide resistant weeds were either the primary focus of the meeting or discussed in depth as part of the larger meeting. Over 35,000 people were touched by the herbicide resistant weed topic. Over 20,000 copies of the Take Action folder, which contains several publications on the control of various HR weeds was distributed.