Hoes to Herbicides: Economics of Evolving Weed Management in the United States
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Weed control is the most labor-demanding aspect of row-crop agriculture in the absence of herbicides. The past century has seen weed management in the United States evolve from horse-drawn cultivators to broad-spectrum herbicides on herbicide-tolerant crops. Three waves of technological change have driven the evolution. Current weed control technologies are Mechanical (for organic products), Chemical (when herbicide resistant weeds require multiple herbicides for effective weed control), and Genetic + Chemical (herbicide-tolerant crop). Cost analysis for a representative Midwestern farm shows that these three systems have decreasing requirements in both capital and labor.