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June 19, 2015 CapitalPress.com 7 Researchers target glyphosate-resistant kochia weeds By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press Researchers are now cer- tain that kochia weeds found growing in two sugar beet fields in Eastern Oregon and Southwestern Idaho last year were resistant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the popular weed killer Roundup. The kochia weed is wide- spread in the region. Re- searchers are determining how widespread the resistant weeds are and developing ways to help sugar beet grow- ers in the region deal with them. That includes field trials designed to show growers the benefit of using multi- ple herbicides, in addition to Roundup, to prevent or con- trol the development of gly- phosate-resistant weeds. Virtually all of the 180,000 Sean Ellis/Capital Press People look at a field trial designed to show sugar beet growers in Idaho and Oregon the best treatment methods to control glypho- sate-resistant kochia weeds, during a June 11 weed tour at Oregon State University’s Ontario research station. acres of sugar beets grown in Eastern Oregon and Idaho are genetically modified by Mon- santo Co. to resist glyphosate. A field trial at Oregon State University’s Ontario research station set up to determine the best treatment method to control resistant kochia weeds is being coordinated by OSU weed scientist Joel Felix and University of Idaho weed sci- entist Don Morishita. It was Morishita and Fe- lix who first alerted sugar beet growers last year they had found kochia weeds that could be resistant to glypho- sate. Lab tests have since con- firmed that they are. Both said weeds don’t mu- tate to develop resistance to a herbicide such as glyphosate. Rather, the product allows a very small population of the weeds that are naturally resis- tant to thrive because it kills off their competition. That’s why it’s important for growers to use other herbi- cides, in addition to Roundup, Felix said. Roundup might not control a very small number of resis- tant weeds, he said, but the use of multiple chemistries will. Crop rotation is an im- portant part of that approach because it allows farmers to use different chemistries, he added. “People who are using (Roundup Ready crops) need to manage that technology by rotating their chemis- tries,” said Greg Dean, man- ager of agricultural services for Amalgamated Sugar Co., which purchases the sugar beets grown by farmers in the region Some farmers in the area are still relying on glyphosate alone to control weeds, Mor- ishita said. “Any farmer who is just relying on glyphosate is really setting themselves and their neighbors up for some prob- lems in the future,” he said. The decision on what her- bicides to use is an economic WSU website helps farmers monitor insects Researchers scout fields for armyworm, wheat midge Ranch worker rescued after two days pinned under ATV By GEORGE PLAVEN By MATTHEW WEAVER EO Media Group Capital Press REARDAN, Wash. -- Washington State Universi- ty researchers recommend Northwest dryland grain farmers check the university’s small grains website to see if insect pests are causing prob- lems in their area. The website offers week- ly updates on populations of wheat head armyworm, wheat midge, aphids, cereal leaf beetle, grasshoppers and Hessian fly, said Diana Rob- erts, regional extension spe- cialist for WSU Extension in Spokane County. “If (farmers are) in an area where we’re reporting a potentially worrisome lev- el, then they should be out scouting their fields,” Rob- erts said. The researchers combined efforts to look for the insects at 20 sites throughout Eastern Washington. Their monitor- ing efforts began in late May, and will continue throughout the season, depending on the insect and the species. The combined effort will help researchers look more efficiently, Roberts said. Reardan, Davenport and Edwall areas in Washington remain the hot spot for army- worm activity, Roberts said, although numbers appear to have peaked. That’s about the right time for growers to sweep their fields for larvae, since eggs hatch about 10 days after they’re laid. Several insects could be the armyworm, a non-native and a native species, Roberts said. Researchers can’t iden- tify the species in the field by looking at the larvae, they need to look at the adult moth. But having the moth in the trap doesn’t prove it’s the one causing damage. The researchers need to col- lect the larvae in the field and raise them into adults. Efforts to do so so far have one and it comes down to the grower’s call, Felix said. But, he added, “We are stressing ... both crop rotation and the use of chemistries other than just glyphosate. As you rotate, you use different modes of action and you con- trol weeds in all crops. By the time you get into sugar beets, you may be free of kochia if you do a good job.” Felix and Morishita are collecting weeds from differ- ent areas and will spray them with Roundup to try to deter- mine how widespread glypho- sate-resistant kochia weeds are in the region. “It’s really important for ... sugar beet growers to know if they have glypho- sate-resistant weeds on their farm,” Morishita said. “I think we’ll have a better idea of the level of resistance lat- er this year.” Photos by Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Diana Roberts, Washington State University regional extension specialist in Spokane County, inspects the floor of a pheromone trap for wheat midge June 12 along Janett Road in between Reardan and Davenport, Wash. Roberts and other researchers are checking fields in Eastern Washington once a week for wheat midge and other insects that could cause a problem for wheat farmers. Diana Roberts, Washington State University regional extension specialist in Spokane County, looks for signs of insect activity June 12. failed, Roberts said. “Which species is primar- ily the problem is probably not important to the farmer, but it is important to scien- tists trying to unravel why it’s taken a hundred years for it to become a nuisance,” Roberts said. Wheat fields are suscepti- ble to wheat midge once the wheat heads emerge until an- thers begin sticking out, Rob- erts said. Just a few wheat midge adults in the trap don’t require further action, but at least 30 would be cause for concern. Diana Roberts, Washington State University regional extension specialist in Spokane County, uses a net to sweep a field looking for wheat head armyworm larvae June 12. Online http: //smallgrains.wsu.edu/ wheat-and-barley-insect-pest- surveys/ The Peone Prairie area near Spokane has shown the most wheat midge ac- tivity so far this year, she said. “Understandably people get nervous when they see a new insect,” she said. So far the armyworm has shown the most activity, but that could quickly change, Roberts said. “It’s going to be an inter- esting year, with the winter we had,” she said. “Every- thing’s earlier.” CONDON, Ore. — Wheel- er County authorities and vol- unteers rescued a local ranch worker June 14 who spent near- ly two days pinned underneath an overturned ATV in the Lost Valley area north of Kinzua. Bill Williams, 52, was taken aboard Life Flight and flown to Legacy Emanuel Medical Cen- ter in Portland. Sheriff Chris Humphreys said Williams was found at the bottom of a sharp canyon with just his legs sticking out from under the vehicle. He was con- scious and able to communi- cate, though clearly injured, dehydrated and suffering from exposure. Recent temperatures in the area had fluctuated between daytime highs of 80 degrees and nighttime lows of 50 de- grees. “For the type of accident in the area he was in, and how long he was out there in only work clothes, he was in surprisingly good shape,” Humphreys said. “We’re very thankful for that.” Crews began searching Sat- urday, June 13, for Williams, who had last been seen the prior morning, according to a police report. They worked through the night before a sheriff’s deputy and landown- er found him early Sunday morning. It took several hours to extricate Williams due to the difficult terrain, and move him into an area where the Life Flight helicopter could land. “The rescue itself was amazing,” Humphreys said. “On this particular situation, the helicopter landed and Life Flight medics had to work a long time to get him stabilized before transport.” Search and rescue was able to drive Williams up a side hill using a utility vehicle confiscated by police in the high-profile poaching case. EPA must decide fate of common insecticide chlorpyrifos by June 30 Capital Press A federal appeals court has ordered the U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency to decide by June 30 whether to prohibit chlorpyrifos, an in- secticide that environmental- ists say harms children. Eight years ago, the agen- cy received a petition to can- cel the chemical’s registra- tion and allowable residues on food, which would end its legal use, from the Pesticide Action Network North Amer- ica and Natural Resources Defense Council. The groups allege that EPA has taken unreasonably long to respond to its request while chlorpyrifos continues to cause short-term and long- term health problems in rural children. Concerns about exposure to the chemical convinced the EPA to phase out its home and garden uses in 2000 but the agency has “inexplicably” failed to prevent harms from agricultural spray drift and volatilization, which affect the children of farm work- ers, the environmental groups said. “Exposure to chlorpyri- fos, a pervasive pesticide, is impossible to avoid. Chlorpy- rifos is found in food and drinking water, in the air near agricultural communities, and in breast milk,” the environ- mentalists said. “The risk of exposure is not limited to peo- ple who choose to buy or use products containing the pesti- cide; it can travel windborne from where it is sprayed, and it can be tracked inside the home on the shoes and clothes of people who come into con- tact with its residues.” Aside from causing poi- soning symptoms like diz- ziness, seizures, confusion, vomiting, muscle spasms and even death, exposure to the chemical is associated with low birth weights, hyperac- tivity and “reduced newborn head circumference,” which is linked to reduced cognitive ability, the petition claimed. Despite EPA’s assuranc- es and a previous lawsuit, the agency has missed deadlines for answering the petition in 2012 and 2014, the environ- mental groups alleged. “EPA, of course, will al- ways have competing duties, but it has yet to pinpoint any pesticide-related work that must take higher priority than evaluating the seven-year-old petition,” the petition said. “EPA’s continuing delay cannot be justified by any other prior- ities.” For its part, the EPA argued that PANNA and NRDC did not prove they’re entitled to the “extraordinary remedy of a writ of mandamus,” in which a court orders the government to perform its duty. The environmental groups raised 10 “complex scientific issues” in their petition, and the EPA has responded to all but three of them, the agency said in a court brief. The EPA proposed taking final action on those questions, which would allow the envi- ronmental groups to challenge those decisions, but they re- fused the offer, the agency said. As to the remaining three questions, the EPA has been performing “complex assess- ments” of the chemical’s health impacts while being hampered by budget shortcomings and a government shutdown, the doc- ument said. “Thus, EPA has not unrea- sonably delayed action, and the Court should not take the dras- tic step of granting mandamus relief establishing deadlines for EPA,” the agency said. “Rather, EPA should be allowed to com- plete its review in a time frame dictated by sound science and in recognition of other compet- ing priorities.” The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has now sided with the environmental groups, or- dering the EPA to notify the court of its decision by June 30. If the agency plans to deny the petition, it must issue a final decision by Sept. 15. If the EPA plans to cancel the registration and tolerance for chlorpyrifos, it must provide the 9th Circuit with a deadline for doing so. 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