Southwest Georgia farmers learn about latest agriculture techniques at Sunbelt Ag Expo Field Day

MOULTRIE — If Palmer Amaranth were a movie character, it could perhaps be the annoying guest who won’t leave, or maybe a villainous spy. Actually, Palmer is a little bit of both, and known by the more common name pigweed can be a farmer’s worst nightmare.

On Tuesday, the persistent weed was on hand at the Sunbelt Ag Expo Field Day, but in this case was an invited guest. The annual tour of the 600-acre farm area near Moultrie gives farmers the chance to get information about new products and crop varieties and talk to researchers in the field.

A University of Georgia research plot at the Expo’s Darrell Williams Research Farm actually has Palmer amaranth as an invited guest, part of research looking to find something that will help farmers score a knockout in their fight.

“Pigweed is the biggest pest for farmers,” Stanley Culpepper, a UGA professor and weed scientist, said. “More than insects, more than anything, this is the biggest pest.”

Farmers were able to control pigweed with glyphosate — Roundup — until the mid-2000s, when it began developing a resistance. Soon the horror plant ran unchecked in some fields, towering over the plants and capable of causing extensive loss in yields. Chopping, digging out by the roots and even in some cases fire were used in attempts to rid fields of the plant.

“We found the first pigweed that was resistant to Roundup in the world,” Culpepper said. “This is fascinating. When a weed specialist says it’s fascinating, that’s probably not good if you’re a farmer.”

The researcher is testing various methods, including bee pollen, to try to reduce the number of seeds, to find an effective course of action for farmers on a 10-acre plot at the site.

“We are trying to find the most effective and cost-efficient process to manage this weed,” Culpepper said. “We see the Expo as really unique because it gives me an opportunity to evaluate my small plots (and) how that relates to the farmers.”

While pigweed is something that normally would be out of place on a pristine exhibit farm, it was necessary for the research, said Expo Executive Director Chip Blalock.

“In order to research it, you’ve got to have it out here,” he said. “It’s a pretty good visual. Next to his pigweed is a plot of pretty cotton. You can control it if you use the right practices.”

Attendance may have been down a bit due to the original date in July being rescheduled due to heavy rainfall, but a number of farmers took the driving tour through the fields of cotton, corn, peanuts and other crops on Tuesday. The 2021 Field Day was canceled entirely due to persistent wet weather.

“It went really well,” Blalock said. “We had a good crowd, a good quality crowd, farmers that had questions and were getting information to take back to their operations. It was good to be back.”

The 44th annual Sunbelt Ag Expo is scheduled for Oct. 18, 19 and 20.

Among those who came out Tuesday was Carter Thompson, a Moultrie farmer.

“I just came out to learn what I can learn, learn some new things,” he said as he spoke with UGA researcher Glen Harris at a cotton plot.

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