This is not the sort of shot you want to post on Instagram, but it’s going to be a more common scene in Alberta this year — especially in the south.

Expect a full blast of kochia this spring

The tumbleweed already has the south in its grip and two years of dry conditions have made it stronger

Reading Time: 4 minutes [UPDATED: Mar. 26, 2019] Alberta kochia populations have exploded following back-to-back years of dry growing conditions. “Kochia was one of the worst weed problems across the southern Prairies last year,” said federal research scientist Charles Geddes. “If we have another dry year this year, there will certainly be issues with kochia management.” The past two […] Read more

It was a win-win-win year for kochia across much of the Prairies in 2018.

The stars (unfortunately) aligned for kochia this summer

This could be the year that triple-resistant kochia is confirmed in Alberta

Reading Time: 4 minutes Farmers never really stood a chance against kochia this year. First, it was a dry year following a dry year, and kochia thrives in dry conditions. Then those dry conditions drew salts in the soil toward the surface — and kochia loves saline soils. And finally, those saline soils delayed emergence in kochia, so any […] Read more


This photo was taken in Manitoba but glyphosate-resistant kochia has since spread across the Prairies and it’s estimated half of kochia in Alberta is resistant to at least one herbicide group.

A 50/50 chance your kochia is glyphosate resistant

Triple-resistant kochia has also been found in Alberta and Saskatchewan

Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s an easy way to tell if you have glyphosate-resistant kochia in your field — flip a coin. “Half the fields that have kochia in them now have resistant populations,” said federal research scientist Charles Geddes. Five years ago, only five per cent of kochia populations in Alberta fields were resistant to glyphosate (the active […] Read more

The sight of wild oats escaping weed control is increasingly common in Alberta and could get a lot worse, says crop expert Harry Brook.

Millions of Alberta acres have resistant weeds

Kochia and wild oats top a long list of resistant weeds that are now present in Alberta, says crop specialist

Reading Time: 2 minutes When it comes to herbicide resistance, producers should be looking for trouble. The ongoing spread of resistant weeds means producers should be actively scouting for it, said provincial crop specialist Harry Brook. “We now have glyphosate resistance in kochia in southern Alberta and it continues to spread,” said Brook. “These should serve as a wake-up […] Read more


This is not what you want to see — resistant kochia was thriving in this wheat field in southern Saskatchewan in 2015.

This is not good — triple-resistant kochia has entered Alberta

Glyphosate-resistant kochia was bad but there’s a new strain that’s much worse

Reading Time: 3 minutes Kochia, one of Western Canada’s most abundant and economically devastating weed species, has won another major battle in overcoming herbicide. This summer, the first known Group 4 herbicide-resistant kochia was identified in a durum wheat field in southwestern Saskatchewan. And samples currently being tested from a farm in southern Alberta are also suspected to be […] Read more

kochia weed in a canola stand

Watch for herbicide-resistant weeds

There are 21 resistant weeds on the Prairies and 38 million acres have at least one of them


Reading Time: < 1 minute The first few weeks of the growing season is a great time to police fields for suspicious weeds. Look for weeds that survived pre-seed burn-off or post-emergent sprays while others of the same species have died. These few weeds could be resistant, and it would be good to nab them early. “It takes 14 to […] Read more