The Prairie Weed Monitoring Network (PWMN): Building a Strong Biovigilance Foundation
- Research Topic: Insect/Disease/Weeds
- Back to Project Listing
As every farmer knows, weeds are one of the major pests on farms. That’s why POGA has agreed to help fund a project to monitor new weeds and herbicide resistance on current weeds in western Canada so hopefully producers, scientists and chemical companies can stay ahead of the curve.
Objectives are to:
- Establish the Prairie Weed Monitoring Network (PWMN), a network of federal researchers, provincial specialists, and academics guiding weed biovigilance for the prairie region.
- Complete the seventh set of weed abundance surveys in the prairie provinces since this series of provincial surveys began in the mid-1970s.
- Complete the fifth set of pre-harvest herbicide-resistant weed surveys in the prairie provinces since this series of provincial resistance surveys began in the early-2000s.
- Complete the third set of post-harvest herbicide-resistant kochia and Russian thistle surveys in the prairie provinces since this set of provincial surveys began in the early-2010s.
- Complete a spatial risk assessment for the evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds in prairie cropping systems by integrating data from weed surveys, species-specific biology, cropping systems, and herbicide sales/use.
- Develop tools to forecast weed community behaviour and range shifts in response to management factors and climate change.
Project Details
- Listing ID: 5821
- Project Status In Progress
- Principal Investigators Dr. Charles Geddes
- Project Dates 2023 – 2028
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Abstract/Summary
As every farmer knows, weeds are one of the major pests on farms. That’s why POGA has agreed to help fund a project to monitor new weeds and herbicide resistance on current weeds in western Canada so hopefully producers, scientists and chemical companies can stay ahead of the curve.
Objectives are to:
- Establish the Prairie Weed Monitoring Network (PWMN), a network of federal researchers, provincial specialists, and academics guiding weed biovigilance for the prairie region.
- Complete the seventh set of weed abundance surveys in the prairie provinces since this series of provincial surveys began in the mid-1970s.
- Complete the fifth set of pre-harvest herbicide-resistant weed surveys in the prairie provinces since this series of provincial resistance surveys began in the early-2000s.
- Complete the third set of post-harvest herbicide-resistant kochia and Russian thistle surveys in the prairie provinces since this set of provincial surveys began in the early-2010s.
- Complete a spatial risk assessment for the evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds in prairie cropping systems by integrating data from weed surveys, species-specific biology, cropping systems, and herbicide sales/use.
- Develop tools to forecast weed community behaviour and range shifts in response to management factors and climate change.
This project aims to develop the Prairie Weed Monitoring Network (PWMN) and to implement a
comprehensive weed biovigilance strategy, including: weed monitoring, risk assessment, and
forecasting for the prairie region of Canada. It will include detailed assessments of (i) weed
abundance in 4000 fields, (ii) herbicide-resistant (HR) weeds pre-harvest in 800 fields, and (iii)
HR kochia and Russian thistle post-harvest in 800 fields, across the prairie provinces. These data,
and those of past surveys, will be leveraged along with other open data resources to conduct
spatial risk analyses for the evolution of HR weed biotypes of greatest concern and where they are
most likely to occur, in addition to the development of a tool to forecast weed community shifts in
response to management factors and climate change. Overall, this coordinated suite of objectives
will provide farmers, agronomists, agricultural industry, researchers, and policy makers with
information required to manage weeds effectively, anticipate new weed threats to farming
systems, and mitigate selection pressure for HR weeds.
