Winter Meeting Season is Here!

We have a great line up of events this winter, several offering both in person and online attendance options. For the first time in several years the NDSU Western Crop and Pest School will be hosted in Williston so make sure to put that on your calendar. Information about the Wheat Show is now posted on their Facebook page.

The Horizon Resources Zahl location will host an educational event on Friday, January 23, at 9:00 a.m. The program will feature Jared Unverzagt, Technical Service Manager at FMC, and Dr. Audrey Kalil.
Jared will provide an overview of FMC’s herbicide portfolio, including products commonly used in pulse crops such as Anthem® Flex and Authority® Supreme. Dr. Kalil will discuss herbicide-resistant weed management, disease management, and root rot in pulse crops.
Lunch will be provided. For questions, please contact Lucas or Burt at the Horizon Resources Zahl Agronomy location at (701) 694-4115. Pre-registration is not required.
 
Other upcoming meetings are listed below. Click the link for the website and registration details.
 

Date	Event	Location
Jan 13 & 14	Alberta Agronomy Update	Virtual
Jan 14 & 15	DIRT Conference	Fargo, ND & Virtual
Jan 20	2026 Pulse Variety Seminar	Virtual
Jan 20	Wild World of Weeds	Fargo, ND & Virtual
Jan 21	Soil Water Workshop	Fargo, ND & Virtual
Jan 26 & 27	Northern Pulse Growers Association Convention	Minot, ND
Jan 23	Horizon Resources Grower Meeting	Zahl, ND
Jan 28	Best of the Best in Wheat and Soybean Research	Minot, ND
Jan 29 -31	KMOT Ag Expo	Minot, ND
Feb 4	Williston Wheat Show	Williston, ND
Feb 17	Evolution Ag Summit	Jamestown, ND
Feb 17	Getting it Right Dry Bean Webinar	Virtual
Feb 18	2026 Western Soybean School	Minot, ND
Mar 6 & 7	Mondak Ag Days	Sidney, MT
Mar 11	Western Crop and Pest School	Williston, ND
Mar 19	Getting it Right Canola Webinar	Virtual
Mar 19 & 20	NE MT Farm Expo	Plentywood, MT

 
 

Using Crop Rotation for Weed Management

Crop rotation is often discussed for fertility and disease management, and rightly so, but it is also one of the most powerful, and underused, weed management tools on the farm.
In today’s margin environment, it’s easy to see why pulse crops have become attractive. They often pencil better than small grains, and many operations are motivated to maximize pulse acres. To keep those acres insurable, rotations frequently settle into a simple pattern: two years of small grains followed by pulses.

While this rotation can work financially, it can quietly work against you when it comes to weeds.
 

Take a Look at Your Weed Control

Ask yourself an honest question: are you satisfied with weed control on your farm? Not compared to your neighbors, but field by field. Are there species that seem harder to control than they used to? More escapes showing up? Programs that used to work but now feel like they’re leaking?

In my experience, the operations most confident in their weed control rarely run simple two-crop systems. Diversity matters.
 

Why Simple Rotations Create Weed Problems

In a typical small grain–pulse rotation, everything looks the same to a weed:

• Both pulses and small grains are cool season
• Both relatively short
• Both planted and sprayed in similar windows
• Both are harvested early

That consistency creates selection pressure. Year after year, weeds are exposed to the same timing, the same canopy structure, and often the same herbicide modes of action. Over time, weeds adapt.
Kochia is a good example. Many growers have noticed it emerging later and growing more slowly early in the season. That “hairy button” stage can persist for weeks, making spray coverage poor and control inconsistent. It’s easy to assume resistance, and sometimes that’s true, but in many cases it’s adaptation driven by our management patterns.

Chemistry Limitations Make It Worse

Pulse crops further narrow herbicide options due to carryover concerns. The result is:

• Repeated exposure to the same modes of action at the same time each year, fueling resistance.
• Certain weeds getting missed entirely.

Canada thistle is a classic example. Low populations are easy to ignore, but when repeatedly unchecked, they become a yield-limiting problem across the entire rotation.

What Happens When You Add Crop Diversity

Introducing a third (or fourth) crop changes the game. Adding a warm-season crop, such as corn, soybean, or sunflower, shifts planting and spray timings later in the season. Sunflowers, for example, are often seeded last, allowing more weeds to emerge and be controlled before planting. Even with limited in-crop options, the change in timing alone reduces selection pressure on early-emerging weeds like kochia.
Other warm-season crops bring different herbicide windows and different modes of action, spreading pressure across the season instead of stacking it into one narrow window every year.

Don’t Want a Late Harvest? Consider Canola

If warm-season crops aren’t appealing, canola is an excellent cool-season addition.
Canola establishes aggressively, shades the ground quickly, and competes extremely well with weeds. Beyond canopy, most canola systems introduce herbicide options glyphosate or glufosinate that weeds may not regularly see in a small grain–pulse rotation, or at least not at the same timing. When using glufosinate-tolerant canola, success comes down to execution. Be sure to follow key guidelines; adequate water volume, the correct adjuvants, and applying under favorable conditions to get the most out of glufosinate.
If you have questions or want to fine-tune your program, reach out to your local Horizon Resources agronomist.

Bottom Line

If certain fields are becoming harder to keep clean, rotation diversity should be part of the solution—not just chemistry changes. Adding even one additional crop to the system can reduce selection pressure, expand herbicide options, and improve weed control across the entire rotation.

Sometimes the most effective weed management tool isn’t a new product, it’s a different crop.
 
 
Kyle Okke, CCA
Agile Agronomy LLC & Agronomists Happy Hour Podcast
 
 
 

2026 NDSU Weed, Disease and Insect Management Guides

The 2026 NDSU Weed, Disease and Insect Management Guides are now available and have some important changes and content. With resistant weeds and pathogens to contend with in 2026, review these guides as you begin to make plans for inputs this season.
 

2026 Weed Guide

Several updates have been made to the 2026 version of the North Dakota Weed Control Guide for the upcoming season.

• New products added include Kyber Pro, Sonic Boom, Weedar XHL, and Weedmaster XHL.
• Callisto GT has been removed following discontinuation.
• Liberty Ultra rates adjusted for soybean and canola (pages 36, 51).
• Reviton was added for preharvest use in field pea, flax, chickpea/
• lentil, and canola (pages 43, 45, 49, 50).
• Tough 5EC use language was modified for lentils (page 45).
• Spartan Charge was removed from safflower (page 48).
• New table summarizing preharvest-registered products was added (page 60).
• Herbicide storage temperature guidance included (page 108).
• Crop rotation restrictions updated for several herbicides (pages 6, 102-104).

Waterhemp was named Weed of the Year, reflecting its continued spread and increasing resistance concerns. It has now been reported as far west as Ward County, North Dakota. Waterhemp can spread long distances via equipment and birds, and our location along a major migratory flyway may increase the risk of introduction. Populations in North Dakota are resistant to several herbicide mode of actions including group 2, group 4, and glyphosate, with one dicamba-resistant population confirmed in a single county.
Glufosinate-resistant waterhemp has been identified in four states, including Illinois. Identification guides are available to help distinguish waterhemp from other pigweed species. Because waterhemp is a prolific seed producer, preventing it from becoming established in fields is critical. Visual ID can be a challenge, so you may also want to consider sending a sample for DNA testing. The National Ag Genotyping Center has a test that can distinguish Palmer amaranth, waterhemp and other pigweeds from seed or tissue.

2026 Disease Guide

The 2026 North Dakota Plant Disease Management Guide lists fungicide resistant pathogens on pages 6 & 7, with one notable exception. Dr. Michael Wunsch (NDSU Carrington REC) has identified reduced control of Ascochyta Blight in chickpea with the Group 7 fungicide class. With the previously identified Group 11 fungicide resistance in this pathogen, that means some products such as Priaxor (11 + 7) will not be effective for managing this disease. His research can be found on the NCREC Plant Pathology website.
Remember that this pathogen is specific to chickpea, and the pathogens which infect lentil and pea are different species.

If you have questions about fungicide efficacy make sure to reach out.
 

2026 Insect Guide

The 2026 North Dakota Field Crop Insect Management Guide has a useful update on the Endangered Species Act EPA compliance efforts related to insecticides on page 3. Page 109 has a list of Wheat Stem Sawfly resistant wheat varieties. While AAC Stronghold was the only variety described as solid stemmed in the 2025 NDSU Durum Variety Guide, there are others available such as AAC Weyburn and AAC Grainland.

Dr. Audrey Kalil, CCA  
Agronomist/Outreach Coordinator