File photo of palmer amaranth — the taller yellowish plants — infesting a U.S. cotton field. (Photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Palmer amaranth pops back up in Ontario

Weed infamous in U.S. for multiple herbicide resistances

Reading Time: 3 minutes A single plant that showed up this summer on the edge of a southwestern Ontario cornfield is cause for concern among Canadian farmers, weed specialists warn. Writing Monday in the ag ministry’s Field Crop News, Ontario provincial weed management specialist Mike Cowbrough said the plant in question, found in Wellington County, is confirmed as palmer […] Read more

Palmer amaranth. (United Soybean Board photo)

Arkansas confirms first-ever glufosinate-resistant broadleaf

Researchers find Palmer amaranth strains in two counties

Reading Time: 2 minutes Researchers in the southern U.S. have found what they say is the first broadleaf weed in the world to beat the active ingredient in BASF’s Liberty herbicide. The University of Arkansas last week announced its ag researchers had found glufosinate-resistant Palmer amaranth in crops in two eastern Arkansas counties across the Mississippi River from Memphis. […] Read more


Although it has yet to be confirmed in Ontario, Palmer amaranth is capable of rapid spread and should be treated as glyphosate resistant.

Recognize the threat of these invasive weeds

How big a problem can waterhemp and Palmer amaranth really be? Let’s not find out

Reading Time: 7 minutes Has everyone been crying wolf about waterhemp? After all, haven’t we been hearing warnings in southern Ontario about the weed for the past 15 years, and who has lost a bushel? Well, it was actually 17 years ago — 2002 — when the species was first confirmed in Lambton County, and the good news is […] Read more

Palmer with long terminal seed head.

PHOTOS: How to identify Palmer amaranth

Reading Time: < 1 minute The amaranth species look fairly similar as seedlings. Nobody wants to wait until they’re in seed to figure that out. When in doubt, ask an agronomist.” — Tammy Jones, Manitoba Agriculture. For the latest information, visit the North Dakota State University website.


Trying to overcome Canada fleabane via breeding is the target of many researchers and breeders.

Better herbicide tolerance

Better technologies are coming, but we’ll need patience and shrewd management until they arrive

Reading Time: 4 minutes Count off the many challenges facing a farmer in any growing season and outside of weather conditions, the biggest impediment has to be weed management, particularly as it relates to herbicide tolerance. In spite of the importance of varietal or hybrid selection and fertility, and the potential for yield losses from insect pests and diseases, […] Read more

Palmer amaranth. (United Soybean Board photo)

North Dakota still on lookout for Palmer amaranth

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada –– Officials in North Dakota continue to hunt down suspicious plants in a bid to keep the aggressive weed Palmer amaranth from establishing there. Palmer amaranth, a pigweed species, made its first confirmed appearance in North Dakota last month, in a soybean field in McIntosh County, in the south-central area of the state. […] Read more


Palmer amaranth. (United Soybean Board photo)

Minnesota finds source of Palmer amaranth on CRP land

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — An invasive weed likely entered Minnesota through seed planted on land in a U.S. conservation program, state agriculture officials said on Thursday, bringing to a close an official probe of a growing threat to agricultural production. Infestations of the weed, Palmer amaranth, have affected other states in the U.S. Midwest through seed planted […] Read more



Palmer amaranth. (United Soybean Board photo)

Minnesota probes Palmer amaranth’s sudden appearance

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Minnesota has launched an investigation to find the source of seed mixes contaminated with weed seeds after the aggressive, herbicide-resistant Palmer amaranth weed was found on 30 areas planted in a federal conservation program. The weed grows very fast, reaching up to eight feet in height and can hold back commercial […] Read more

Each waterhemp plant can produce one million seeds, with some producing up to five million.

Waterhemp knocking at Canada’s door

This cousin of the feared Palmer amaranth has reached the Canadian border, and could soon begin marching across the West

Reading Time: 4 minutes A new alien is lurking in the fields of North Dakota and Minnesota, preparing to invade Canada and cause no end of trouble. The potential enemy is a noxious weed called waterhemp, a member of the pigweed family and a cousin of Palmer amaranth, a glyphosate-resistant weed currently plaguing cotton and soybean growers in the […] Read more