March 28, 2024

The Enlist system helping mend fences as it adds options for farmers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Enlist weed control system is not only bringing more weed control options for farmers, it also could be helping mend fences among farmers and neighbors.

“I think we have seen a lot of fences go up in the last couple of years, mental fences, and we are trying to mend those today with the Enlist system,” said Carl Joerns, Pioneer field agronomist for Indiana.

Pioneer brand Enlist E3 soybeans offer advanced weed control trait technology. Pioneer brand Enlist E3 soybeans have tolerance to glyphosate, glufosinate and the 2,4-D choline with Colex-D technology featured in Enlist Duo and Enlist One herbicides.

For growers, weed control of resistant broadleaf weeds such as tall waterhemp and marestail have become a top priority as those weeds spread across fields in the Midwest. Joerns said the Enlist system offers growers the flexibility right from the start to tailor the system to their weed control needs on their fields.

“What we see with the Enlist system is it gives the grower greater flexibility because of all the different tank-mix partners that the grower can use. We have exceptional control from the 2,4-D choline portion of the Enlist system. Then Liberty is an excellent tank-mix partner when it comes to controlling some of those challenging weed species, specifically broadleaves like tall waterhemp and marestail. We see good impact from those two when used in concert,” Joerns said.

And when it comes to mending those mental fences, to repairing damage done to neighbor relationships over crops damaged by volatilization and drift, the Enlist system offers growers the confidence that they can use the Enlist system without fear of damaging neighboring crops.

“We look at farming with the Enlist system as giving the grower freedom to spray their soybeans when they want, with a wider application window, and they can add that peace of mind and not worry ‘Am I going to damage the neighboring beans just because I am spraying my own acres?’ That peace of mind is a really big component of this system,” Joerns said.

Good Neighbor

For growers who farm next to or near urban or suburban areas and on the edges of towns, the Enlist system is welcome because it means they can finally get total weed control of those fields close to inhabited areas.

“The opportunity to use the Enlist system has been welcomed by my growers who farm a little bit closer to more suburban landscapes. They have the confidence that they can go out with an additional mode of action when it comes to weed control. Before they used Enlist herbicides, they felt like they were leaving some escapes out in the field, but they didn’t feel like they had another option. Now, we are turning those weedy fields into clean ones in just a short amount of time,” Joerns said.

Joerns said growers who have used other herbicide systems may be hesitant because of their past experiences with herbicides volatilizing and drifting, and damaging neighbors’ fields. But the proof is seeing what the Enlist system, including Enlist Duo and Enlist One, does — and doesn’t — do.

“As more growers and more acres are using the Enlist system, they see with their own eyes that where they spray it, it stays. That near-zero volatility and reduced potential for physical drift that we tell growers they should expect? They are seeing it firsthand. That is getting them to believe that this is a completely different ballgame than what they have been used to,” Joerns said.

A Longer Application Window

Another advantage for growers is no cutoff dates that they may have with dicamba.

“We don’t have those calendar cutoff dates that come with other systems. For growers in Indiana, you cannot apply dicamba after June 20 in corn or in soybeans. When we are trying to take that whole system approach, having that tool taken away from us means we really need to look at other options. The Enlist system gives us a nice, wider window of application all the way through the R2 growth stage, as opposed to being cut off at R1 with some of the other systems,” Joerns said.

With weeds taking advantage of longer growing seasons and changing weather conditions, growers need flexibility when it comes to controlling weeds throughout the growing season, including toward the end of it.

“When it comes to these challenges we are experiencing, not just from a weed standpoint, but also the climate and the weather we are experiencing, having a system, like the Enlist system, that provides the grower the maximum amount of flexibility, is critical to managing some of these more challenging weeds,” Joerns said.

This column was contributed by Indiana AgriNews for Pioneer.

Jeannine Otto

Jeannine Otto

Field Editor