This new evolution of Pigweed is resistant to Roundup, the most commonly used herbicide in the world. Pigweed is devastating some Georgia cotton crops while it grows 2 to 3 inches per day and farmers are struggling to keep the weed from destroying their crops and their livelihood.
Channel 2 Action News anchor Monica Pearson visited farms in Dooley County, Georgia, to see the threat to Georgia's cash crops. Farmer Matt Coley showed Pearson Roundup resistant pigweed that was more than 6 feet tall.
"Every acre we had was affected by glyphosate resistant palmer amaranth; not only cotton, our cotton land is our peanut land," Coley said.
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Roundup became a very popular herbicide with the introduction of Roundup resistant seeds for crops such as cotton and soy beans. Farmers could spray their fields with Roundup without killing their harvest. Now their fight against the weed is costing them thousands.
"It makes the small margins even thinner in the farming industry," Coley said. "It's got the potential to wipe out jobs, it's got the potential to wipe out family farms."
"When this pest arrives on a farm, very, very quickly, within two to three years it can dominate the landscape because of its ability to produce very, very, rapidly," said Dr. Stanley Culpepper of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Working in the first site where Roundup resistant pigweed was confirmed, Culpepper is researching ways to combat the invasive species that are economically feasible for farmers.
"That is where this pest is simply winning. Growers can't continue to spend $70 to $100 per acre to manage one weed and one crop," Culpepper said.
Culpepper told Pearson there is no miracle cure, that it will take a combination of several methods to keep the pest from completely destroying farmer's crops.
"I don't think there is any doubt, that with the biology of this pest and how unique it is, there is not going to be a single peel; it's going to take an integrated program," Culpepper said.
One solution Culpepper has looked at is the use of certain crops to block the sunlight from the pigweed preventing its growth.
"It was amazing how effective we could actually use rye to block the sunlight to keep the Palmer Amaranth from coming up -- that's one if the few weaknesses of this pest, is that it requires sunlight to germinate," said Culpepper.
"Eradication is certainly not likely -- or not expected. Management is our goal," Culpepper said.
Round-up resistant pigweed is now in 95 percent to 98 percent of Georgia's agricultural counties and is spreading across the nation at a rapid rate. Culpepper said that he gets up to 40 calls per day from farmers desperate for help.
WSBTV
