Project Overview
War Against Weeds – A Podcasting Partnership to Increase Integrated Weed Management Knowledge
Commodities
- Agronomic: canola, corn, cotton, cover crops, grass (turfgrass, sod), hay, medics/alfalfa, peanuts, peas (field, cowpeas), rice, small grain, sorghum (milo), soybeans, sugarbeets, sunflower
- Ecosystem: Ecosystem
- Fruits: other
- Human Health: workers, residents, applicators
- Vegetables: other
Target Pests
Practices
- Pest Management: allelopathy, biological control, chemical control, competition, cultivation, cultural control, mechanical control, monitoring/scouting, pesticide application timing, pesticide resistance management, pesticides, precision pesticide use, prevention, sanitation, weather monitoring, weed ecology
- Animal Production: rangeland/pasture management
- Crop Production: application rate management, conservation tillage, cover crops, crop rotation, cropping systems, double cropping, fallow, no-till
- Production Systems: agroecosystems, integrated crop and livestock systems
- Soil Management: soil microbiology
Proposal abstract:
The War Against Weeds podcast (https://waragainstweeds.libsyn.com/) was initiated in January 2021 to share integrated weed management information from varied guests with farmers and other agriculture professionals. To date, we have released over 100 episodes with over 56,000 downloads. Listener surveys after seasons 3 and7 suggest that approximately 17 to 39% of listeners are farmers and an additional 11 to 35% of listeners are farmers' business partners. Seventy seven to 89% of respondents said that the War Against Weeds podcast is extremely effective or very effective at communicating weed management information and 25 to 31% of respondents said they have changed or are considering a change in a weed management practice or recommendation as a result of listening to the podcast. We aim to expand on the current success by developing: short videos that summarize the key points of each episode in under 5 minutes; an expanded website that includes an index of topics and access to additional resources related to each episode; and access to continuing education credits for Certified Crop Advisors.
Project objectives from proposal:
Current objectives of the War Against Weeds podcast are: 1) provide weed management information in an accessible and enjoyable format to a diverse audience; and 2) increase interactions among scientists working on weed-management related problems.
