Invasive weeds: Unwelcome plants encroach on farmers’ fields

BY ALICE KEMP

Each year, invasive weeds are responsible for headaches and financial losses for farmers. Whether they’re brought to Virginia intentionally through decorative landscaping, accidentally on equipment, or by animal and human movement, they can quickly dominate cropland or pastures.

According to the Virginia Invasive Species Working Group, losses due to invasive species are estimated to exceed $1 billion annually. This can result in water and nutrient competition among crops, reduced yields, less livestock weight gain and even animal illness—not to mention added expense and time to manage invasive plants.

Michael Flessner, associate professor at Virginia Tech and a Virginia Cooperative Extension weed specialist, said “prevention is worth a pound of cure.” In addition to herbicides, farmers can help control weed spread by employing crop rotation, using good land management and cleaning off equipment as they travel from field to field.

For Bill Shockley of Shockley Farms in Cape Charles, Italian ryegrass is more than a nuisance.

“It’s a constant problem,” said Shockley, a former Extension agent. “It’s a terrible weed to have in small grains … I’ve seen as much as 50% reduction in yield over the years if you don’t control it.”

Italian ryegrass has multiple flushes throughout the year and competes with Shockley’s small grains and soybeans for moisture and nutrients. It’s also quick to develop herbicide resistance. While some different chemical combinations mitigate it, it often takes more than one application, driving up input costs.

“We’ve had a half a dozen different chemicals over the years,” Shockley explained. “They work fine for three to four years, and then suddenly you get a failure.

“We’ve been putting glyphosate or Roundup when we plant, and then we have to come back and do two more applications to control it,” he added.

He noted tilling also helps control the persistent weed, but with many farmers switching to no-till, most rely on chemical applications. Good land management including crop rotation can help as a preventative measure, and narrow row spacing in soybeans suppresses weeds as a dense canopy deprives them of sunlight and water.

Ironically, Shockley said, Italian ryegrass is a great cover crop for corn, but “you have to manage it,” he cautioned. “You certainly don’t need it going to seed.”

Shockley said his current chemical applications are working, but “I fear what we’re using now is going to play out. It’ll be another few years before we need another chemical control for it.”

Flessner shared which unwanted invasive weeds are causing the most problems for Virginia farmers, and what can be done to control them.

Amaranthus palmeri aka Palmer amaranth or pigweed

ORIGIN: SOUTHWEST U.S.

Concern: Competes with crops; toxic to livestock; herbicide resistance

Mitigation: Inversion tillage, residual herbicide application at planting, timely postemergence herbicide, narrow crop row spacing

“It tends to stay fleshy and green even after a killing frost, so it just dries your moisture values up or makes the combine have to work harder,” Flessner said.

ORIGIN: ASIA

Concern: Competes with hay and forage; reduces grazeable area

Mitigation: Repeated herbicide applications like glyphosate in late summer before planting seeds, reseeding with desirable grass

“Once it’s established, it’s got a tremendous underground structure and root reserves that keep it competitive.”

ORIGIN: SOUTHERN EUROPE

Concern: Competes with wheat and small grains; herbicide resistance; difficult to control in early spring

Mitigation: Tillage, crop rotation, preemergence herbicides

“We rely on preemergence herbicide we put out right after wheat planting … but it hasn’t done as well last year as it has in the past. We’re keeping an eye on it.”

ORIGIN: MIDWEST U.S.

Concern: Significant yield loss; herbicide resistance

Mitigation: Rotate herbicide modes-of-action, preemergent and postemergent herbicides with residual control, crop rotation

“It’s very problematic in the Midwest,” Flessner said. “It can have a whole lot of different herbicide resistance. It’s in a couple spots in Virginia and could be concerning depending on how it’s managed.”

ORIGIN: EURASIA AND NORTHERN AFRICA

Concern: Can be toxic to livestock; reduces grazable area; reduces weight gain in livestock

Mitigation: Winter herbicide applications, replant desirable grass, good grazing and hay management

“It has dicoumarol, which is a blood thinner,” Flessner said. “It’s not seriously toxic, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t causing problems either—it can lead to reduced weight gain and possible calf loss.”

ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY NICOLE ZEMA

Stafford County farmer Gerry Young’s farm-injury survival story could easily have been an obituary.

In July 2021, the crop farmer became ensnared in a grain auger while unloading corn bins—a 30-second eternity fighting for survival.

“My foot slipped on the dust and got caught in the auger, which was eating my foot up,” Young recalled. “I had to break my foot to get it free. Then the top auger of the elevator caught my pants pocket and started shredding my clothes off and grinding my backside. When the clothes finally ripped off, I figured I’d be alright, but it came around and caught the clasp on my belt.”

His belt was pulled into the gear box shaft, which was spinning at 1,500 revolutions per minute, flipping his body over the auger and power takeoff shaft.

“The striker in my belt ate my leg up and all the way around,” Young said. “It happened so fast.”

He pulled his belt taut against the exposed corner of the shielded PTO shaft to break it free—a quick decision that saved his life.

“It took 14 inches of skin and flesh, over 3 inches deep,” Young said. His other leg was lacerated. Seven bones, five tendons and five ligaments broke in his foot. He was in shock, but never lost consciousness.

Workers on-site called 911, summoning air support. The pilot advised Young to say goodbye to his wife, Vicki. His two young grandsons were sobbing. He promised them, “Poppy’s coming back.

“But when you leave your farm in a helicopter, you don’t know if you’re ever coming back,” he said. “I saw my life flash before me twice and prayed to God to let me live.”

They landed at the VCU Health Trauma Center within 25 minutes. Young needed 15 pints of blood and spent 58 days in the hospital, treated by a team of 24 specialists.

“They put it all back together with pins, screws and skin grafts,” said Young, who was buying and selling grain from his hospital bed just days after the accident. Friends and neighbors covered farm tasks.

Nurse practitioner Dr. Amy Johnson, who also is a Bedford County farmer, said machinery like balers, mowers and augers pose high risks for severe injuries and fatalities.

“Farm machinery injuries tend to be very grotesque,” she explained. “You have tissues that are ripped and severed. It can be very difficult to repair these wounds.”

PTO shafts can easily catch a shoestring or shirt tail.

“It takes an average human about 3 to 4 seconds to react to an emergency,” Johnson said. “Before you have the wherewithal to react, that PTO shaft has wrapped that person around it.”

After returning home to Blysdale Farms, his wife forklifted Young’s wheelchair up to the tractor cab, and he went back to cutting hay.

“I planted it,” he said. “I’m going to harvest it.”

They installed an elevator lift on the combine.

Following a year of therapy, Young is still in tremendous pain, with another foot operation scheduled.

He said, “I just hope my story will help someone stop, think, and prevent them from getting hurt.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked the most common causes of farm injury:

• Contact with equipment: Cover PTO shafts with guards and never step over an engaged shaft.

• Falls, slips, trips: Use three points of contact when using stairs or ladders. Harness up when working in grain bins or manure pits.

• Overexertion: Respect your body’s limits. Repetition, heavy lifting, vibrations, extreme temperatures and fatigue can lead to injury.

• Animal encounters: Be alert. Carefully approach animals, and create your exit path.

• Transportation incidents: Tractor rollovers commonly occur on steep inclines. Install rollover protection, and never dismount while the engine is running. Always use a slow-moving vehicle emblem on roadways.

• Harmful substances: Farm gases, pesticides and sanitizing solutions can cause toxic inhalation injuries. Wear protection when exposure is likely.

See a webinar on farm injury prevention at bit.ly/3Hnr7jn or find more safety resources at vafb.com/safety.