University of California - Weeds Day 2008
UC Davis has a prominent & well established weed research team within their plant sciences department who put together the annual Weed Day on campus.
The Department of Plant Sciences has been created by consolidating the four commodity-based departments of Agronomy and Range Science, Pomology, Vegetable Crops and Environmental Horticulture. This pooling of manpower and resources has fostered better focus on the teaching, research and outreach missions of one of the leading academic programs in agricultural and environmental sciences in the United States.
Under the umbrella of Plant Sciences, over 90 faculty members now collaborate on education and research in the emerging programmatic areas of plant and environmental sciences. Fundamental advances in genomics, genetics, plant physiology, evolutionary biology and environmental science are being translated into improvements in crop performance and production, post harvest quality, agricultural sustainability and ecosystem management.
IVMP Project Representatives attended campus for the Annual Weeds Day. There were one hundred and fifty attendees from all over the US, from researchers & government personnel, to practitioners and contractors.
This event was very much like one of our Weed Society forums in Australia. Attendees spent the morning looking at field sites trialling a range of herbicides, both organic and non-organic, from non-crop to in-crop and aquatic areas. A few photos from the day can be viewed in the IVMP image gallery.
The afternoon program consisted of twelve fifteen minute sessions where Researchers presented updates on the weed management projects currently being completed by the University.
Of particular interest was the presentation by Dr Joe Di Tomaso who introduced an online interactive weed identification database that had been developed at UC Davis. This database allowed users to work logically through a series of weed identification options that assisted the user towards accurately identifying the weed species they were researching.
Australia is yet to have a weed identification tool such as this developed and consideration should be given to developing a similar model for Australian weeds with added features such as control options for each weed species.
Project Representatives gathered research information including trial protocols, data and progress reports, along with meeting numerous contacts with industry personnel keen to collaborate with the IVMP Technical Team in the future.
As in Australia, the issue of attracting appropriate levels of funding for research into new uses for older technologies is a problem faced in the United States. There is resistance from chemical companies to reinvest in generic technologies or new technologies where cost outweighs the benefit are not favourable short term.
However, looking at our experience in the USA, if a long term view is taken, the benefit over time can reward those who invest in exploring new opportunities for the older technologies with an integrated vegetation management program.
We are keen to hear from anyone who may be working with or has worked with generic technologies to explore new registration opportunities for common weed problems in your region. We know of a number of promising opportunities that were passed up because the numbers did not stack up…..do you know of similar situations? We welcome your comments and feedback.
The Department of Plant Sciences has been created by consolidating the four commodity-based departments of Agronomy and Range Science, Pomology, Vegetable Crops and Environmental Horticulture. This pooling of manpower and resources has fostered better focus on the teaching, research and outreach missions of one of the leading academic programs in agricultural and environmental sciences in the United States.
Under the umbrella of Plant Sciences, over 90 faculty members now collaborate on education and research in the emerging programmatic areas of plant and environmental sciences. Fundamental advances in genomics, genetics, plant physiology, evolutionary biology and environmental science are being translated into improvements in crop performance and production, post harvest quality, agricultural sustainability and ecosystem management.
IVMP Project Representatives attended campus for the Annual Weeds Day. There were one hundred and fifty attendees from all over the US, from researchers & government personnel, to practitioners and contractors.
This event was very much like one of our Weed Society forums in Australia. Attendees spent the morning looking at field sites trialling a range of herbicides, both organic and non-organic, from non-crop to in-crop and aquatic areas. A few photos from the day can be viewed in the IVMP image gallery.
The afternoon program consisted of twelve fifteen minute sessions where Researchers presented updates on the weed management projects currently being completed by the University.
Of particular interest was the presentation by Dr Joe Di Tomaso who introduced an online interactive weed identification database that had been developed at UC Davis. This database allowed users to work logically through a series of weed identification options that assisted the user towards accurately identifying the weed species they were researching.
Australia is yet to have a weed identification tool such as this developed and consideration should be given to developing a similar model for Australian weeds with added features such as control options for each weed species.
Project Representatives gathered research information including trial protocols, data and progress reports, along with meeting numerous contacts with industry personnel keen to collaborate with the IVMP Technical Team in the future.
As in Australia, the issue of attracting appropriate levels of funding for research into new uses for older technologies is a problem faced in the United States. There is resistance from chemical companies to reinvest in generic technologies or new technologies where cost outweighs the benefit are not favourable short term.
However, looking at our experience in the USA, if a long term view is taken, the benefit over time can reward those who invest in exploring new opportunities for the older technologies with an integrated vegetation management program.
We are keen to hear from anyone who may be working with or has worked with generic technologies to explore new registration opportunities for common weed problems in your region. We know of a number of promising opportunities that were passed up because the numbers did not stack up…..do you know of similar situations? We welcome your comments and feedback.
Labels: funding for research into new uses for older technologies, integrated vegetation management program, interactive weed identification database, weed identification tool
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