
News
Development of an integrated weed management strategy
Integrated weed management (IWM) is the way to go for sustainable and resilient agriculture. The project IWMPRAISE aims to support and promote IWM in Europe. Weed management in Europe will become more environmental friendly if the concept of integrated weed management takes better hold on European farms.
Integrated Weed Management (IWM) is a complex system approach in which many tools and tactics are combined to manage weeds. In order to support farmers in defining integrated weed management strategies we propose a framework consisting of 5 different pillars for integrated weed management. Each pillar contains a list of tactics. The tactics affect one or more parts of the weed life cycle (figure 1) or affect the weed-crop interaction. The framework was developed based on a literature interview and expert interviews in participating countries.

Some quotes from expert interviews performed throughout Europe:
- “Using different strategies and tactics to manage weeds”
- “To know your fields and know what kind of problems were there last year. Built your plan on that experience and even better prevent that those weed problems come back again by growing crops that can control them and stabilize your soil.”
- “It consists of minimizing the negative effect of weeds on the main crop with a viable agronomic management, economically profitable and preserving natural resources”
- “It implies the knowledge of the biology and ecology of weeds”
- “Use many tools at once, combination of chemical and mechanical control, prevent establishment, combination of short and long term considerations”
Successful IWM strategies will combine tactics from all or most of these 5 pillars of the IWM Framework (Figure 2):
- Diverse cropping system for increased or equal crop yields or profitability compared to conventional systems
- Cultivar choice and establishment: Selecting weed-suppressive and tolerant crops
- Field and soil management, enhancing crop growth
- Targeted control tactics to disturb weeds life cycle
- Monitoring & evaluation
