Why do growers use herbicides?
Growers must control weeds. Weeds compete with crops for moisture, nutrient, growing space and sunlight. In the absence of weed control, the average crop losses for U.S. corn, soybean and cotton growers would be approximately 65%, 74% and 94%, respectively. In addition to causing significant crop losses, weeds make crop harvesting more difficult. If the harvested crop is contaminated with weed seeds, growers who save harvested seed grains to plant the next season will sow weed seeds along with crop seeds. In addition, the quality of the food and feed derived from the crop is lower if weed seeds contaminate harvested grains.
