Crush Weeds Early in the Season

It’s tempting to lower the bar on weed management when commodity prices are low. But as some soybean, corn and cereals growers discovered in 2025, trying to save a little on the front end can result in an expensive and time-consuming game of catch-up later in the season.

“I think I’d be remiss in not saying that commodity prices were a major challenge for farmers this past year,” says Mark Kitt, corn herbicide technical product lead at Syngenta. “Farmers want to try to manage their weed control costs, but it’s better to invest a little bit more in a strong herbicide program than to try to cut corners and allow weeds to start competing with the crop for resources.”

Weeds By the Numbers

Kitt says Syngenta completed research across 20 locations analyzing how much nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium that 2- to 4-inch weeds pull from soil, which equates to about $15 per acre¹. “That’s just the fertilizer dollar impact, not even the yield impact. Early season weed competition can change how the corn grows, causing irreversible yield loss. If a corn plant senses weed competition, it’s going to prioritize above-ground growth to try to outgrow those weeds for sunlight,” Kitt explains. “And that can sacrifice below-ground root development, which ultimately is what the plant uses to access the nutrients it needs for grain fill.”

Eric Palmer, Ph.D., soybean herbicide technical product lead at Syngenta saw firsthand the impact weed escapes had on 2025 soybean fields. “When driving around the countryside late last year, the weed escapes I saw above crop canopies were primarily Palmer amaranth and waterhemp — two weeds that can be detrimental to soybean yield,” he says.

Weeds also take moisture from fields that crops could otherwise use. This is particularly concerning in drier areas. Kitt cites Syngenta research on weed-related water losses that shows 3-inch weeds can remove 1 inch of moisture from the soil in just three days.

“Multiply that across an acre and that’s up to 27,000 gallons of water that weeds are stealing from your crop,” Kitt says.

The weeds that robbed the most moisture from cereals crops in 2025 were foxtails and kochia, according to David Belles, Ph.D., cereals herbicide technical product lead at Syngenta. Even when commodity prices are low, he notes that farmers would like to see new herbicide solutions because many of the existing chemistries for use in cereals are more than 15 years old.

Exploring the Future of Weed Control

Fortunately, exciting technologies are emerging in the war on weeds. Two examples, drone applications and aerial scouting photography, will likely become more prevalent in the future.

“On social media platforms, you may see demonstrations of electrocution-based weed control,” says Kitt. These systems use high-voltage electricity intended to damage plant tissue and suppress weed growth.

There are also emerging laser-based weed control technologies that use camera-guided systems designed to identify weeds and target them with focused laser energy, according to Kitt. “I haven’t seen widespread adoption of these tools,” he says. “However, continued exploration of different approaches is positive. Integrated weed management relies on combining multiple strategies — including chemical, cultural and mechanical practices.”

In addition, breakthroughs in more traditional weed-control technologies are in the pipeline. “We’ve got some new trait technologies on the horizon in soybeans that have shown very good promise in early research,” Palmer says.

When it comes to new herbicides, Kitt isn’t ready to talk specifics but says what excites him most about working at Syngenta is its developmental pipeline. “I think farmers are going to really like what they see coming to market in the next few years.”

In the meantime, Syngenta discovered a way to unlock the full strength of the bicyclopyrone molecule and submitted label amendments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its bicyclopyrone-containing brands: Storen ^®, Acuron ^®, Acuron GT and Acuron Flexi. “Once approved, these label changes will allow growers more flexibility when building programs to control tough weeds in corn,” Kitt says.

The Best Bet in 2026

Belles, Kitt and Palmer all agree that applying pre and post-emergence residual herbicides in a layered approach will still be your best bet when it comes to controlling weeds in 2026.

Palmer says a lot of farmers, particularly in soybeans, are still trying to control weeds with only post-application herbicides. Whether a farmer uses one or multiple post applications, weeds are simply becoming more difficult to control without preemergence residual herbicides. One key reason is that the target window for post applications is narrow and easy to miss because of bad weather, mechanical issues or any of the other near-daily issues that occur on most farms.

Palmer encourages farmers to use preemergence herbicide applications with strong residual activity, like Tendovo^® soybean herbicide, which has shown excellent crop safety and up to five weeks residual control.

“Tendovo has been out for a couple of seasons now, and the people who have used the full-labelled rates have been very pleased with what they’ve seen,” he says.

In corn, Kitt says a good weed management program starts with Storen^® corn herbicide.  “If I had a heavy infestation of Palmer amaranth or waterhemp, I’d use Storen at 1.2 quarts per acre preemergence with atrazine, then follow up about 21 days after planting with another 1.2 quarts per acre of Storen plus atrazine mixed with glyphosate,” he says. “That split-shot Storen program is going to be very robust.”

Kitt reminds farmers that it is always best to monitor for weed escapes and that Acuron^® corn herbicide is another excellent choice for preemergent weed management. He points to data showing that Acuron outyields competitive corn herbicides by 5-15 bushels per acre².

In cereals, Belles says, “We’re waiting now for the registration of a label that would expand the use of Talinor herbicide³, which is bicyclopyrone and bromoxynil octanoate, to allow preemergence applications.”

There’s no guarantee that cutting corners to control weeds won’t tempt farmers again in 2026. Instead, experts recommend they stick with the fundamentals and practice the strategies they know will pay long-term profitability dividends.

¹Prices pulled from https://www.tworiversks.coop/pages/custom.php?id=19995 on 9/18/25 to calculate the following:

N: 46-0-0 is $29.50 per 100 pounds or $0.295 per pound: (13.4 lb of actual N weed uptake/0.46 fertilizer = 29.13 lb of 46-0-0 needed) then (29.13 lb of 46-0-0 * $0.295 per pound of 46-0-0) = $$8.59

P: 18-46-0 is $46.50) per 100 pounds or $0.465 per pound: (0.85 lb of actual P2O5 weed uptake/0.46 fertilizer = 1.85 lb of 18-46-0 needed) then (1.85 lb of 18-46-0 * $0.465/pound of 18-46-0) = $0.86

K: muriate of potash-(0-0-60) is $23.00 per 100 pounds or $0.23 per pound: (16.8 lb of actual K2O weed uptake/0.60 fertilizer = 28 lb of 0-0-60 needed) then (28 lb of 0-0-60 * $0.23/pound of 0-0-60) = $6.44

$8.59+$0.86+$6.44=$15.89

²Acuron yield advantage based on 2016 Syngenta and university trials comparing Acuron to Corvus^®, Resicore^®, SureStart^® II and Verdict^® herbicide applied pre-emergence and at full label rates.

³Talinor is not yet registered for preemergence use on cereals in the U.S.