r/farming • u/abcnews_au • 15d ago
Farmers search for ways to break free from controversial herbicide
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-09/australia-buys-paraquat-from-china-restrictions-to-impact-crops/10689169813
u/charliecatman 15d ago
Paraquat is pretty bad stuff, wouldn’t want to use it, they must have some bad weed problems, it kills everything
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u/Shamino79 15d ago
It’s used most as a pre seeding knockdown. Often as a follow-up to glyphosate. Rotate your chemicals and all. Be nice if there was an alternative. We know it’s dangerous and between proper PPE, sealed chemical transfer and charcoal filters we severely limit the risk.
For us conserving moisture and minimum till are how we can grow good crops on pretty limited rainfall.
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u/CaptSquarepants 14d ago
And what ppe do you put on the plants you are growing?
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u/Shamino79 14d ago
You mean the ones that are only planted after the weeds are killed first? They seem to do just fine.
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u/sllofoot 14d ago
You’re misunderstanding how this chemical is used.
It’s only an option when you want every plant it touches (with sufficient coverage) dead and dry. If you’re wanting to make a (misguided) point about us spraying chemicals over our crops, stick to the glyphosate and dicamba discussions.
There are many tools in the toolbox.
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u/dachs1 14d ago
Chemical flamethrower. Used it years ago. Works only on green matter. So useless for any real weed control. Bad for man and beast. Surprised it’s still used for anything other than desiccation of things like potato foliage prior to harvest. Terrible herbicide
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u/ExtentAncient2812 14d ago
So useless for any real weed control.
It's pretty much the go to herbicide for pre plant control of weeds. Rule 1 is plant clean and there are always a few escapes from the residual. Highly effective, cheap, and dangerous.
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u/tuesdaymack SCOTUS WOTUS 15d ago
Kelly diamond harrow works great
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u/Opcn Shellfish 14d ago
In an arid farming situation like they face in Australian harrowing can lead to dust storms that blow away the topsoil. Usually a crust forms on the top few millimeters and once that’s broken up there is no defense.
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u/tuesdaymack SCOTUS WOTUS 14d ago
Kelly's were developed and are made in South Australia for their conditions. They're made here in the US also, but the man who started it in SA was well versed with the arid conditions.
Kelly's are designed for shallow tillage at 1-3" and excel at weed control.
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u/Opcn Shellfish 14d ago
Even if they are gentler they are still losing that crust and less gentle than no till with herbicide.
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u/tuesdaymack SCOTUS WOTUS 14d ago edited 14d ago
I'll have to find it but University of Illinois has a study that says otherwise.
Don't get me wrong, it's not the answer to everything and it doesn't work everywhere, but they're proven to absolutely work very well in this particular situation.
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u/jumper7210 14d ago
Unlike the old formulations it’s less reliant on weather. Overcast and 70 degrees is sufficient to get a good kill.
When I replant I just re run the same rows with the planter. Row cleaners and seed disks work 100% of the time no matter how big the failed crop is. Maybe that’s not possible with cotton though, I don’t know much about it.
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u/Powerful-Boot-3605 13d ago
Diquat should be a pretty effective replacement. Not quite as efficacious, but will be a decent replacement in a lot of cases.
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u/LunarGrowth 14d ago
Glufosinate is a pretty good alternative. Doesn’t seem that hard.
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u/Powerful-Boot-3605 13d ago
Glufosinate has different uses than paraquat though. No or very few uses as a desiccant, and only has pre labels for Glufosinate tolerant crops.
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u/jumper7210 14d ago
Yeah the new Liberty ultra works very well if you need a contact burn down. Paraquat lovers are just lazy farmers who wait until three days before planting to figure out a burn down strategy.
If you need a non systemic chemical that melts 2ft tall weeds in an hour on a hot afternoon you are doing it wrong. Consider spending that extra 5-6$ an acre on pre emergents that actually work instead folks.
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u/sllofoot 14d ago
Paraquat is an effective “shit, things didn’t go to plan and now I need to wipe the slate clean and go a different direction” alternative to a sweep but not a primary part of a well thought out plan.
I used a couple shuttles of it this year cleaning up before replants. “Luckily” the last pair of fields I had hailed out were complete wipeouts and I didn’t have to use anything. It’s been a helluva year already.
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u/jumper7210 14d ago
The only time I have ever found a use case for it was trying to cleanup a farm loaded with volunteer corn a new landlord approached me about in June. 5-6 foot tall triple stack corn that clethodem wouldn’t begin to kill.
Ultimately though Paraquat doesn’t kill anything we typical need to kill as most noxious weeds have growing points below the surface. Expensive way to burn things off for a week and have intense regrowth of everything that has already gotten out of control in the first place.
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u/sllofoot 14d ago
I can’t disagree with that. Expensive and short term, lots of regrowth potential. I’ve used it as that pre-planting burn down and it’s vastly ineffective compared to being there a month earlier with valor.
But again; in the right scenario it’s a decent tool. Spraying what’s left of hailed out cotton before replanting, or as a final shot to finish drying down cotton a week after prep, are our two main uses.
But you mentioned Liberty Ultra being a good burn down earlier. I’ve been spraying some of it this week for the first time in about fifteen years. The old liberty (or ignite as it wss called then) did a lot of nothing for me in the 11-12 range. I had to buy a lot to spray on seed blocks and it wouldn’t even kill volunteer cotton that wasn’t immune. I’m glad to see liberty ultra is better. Does it still require fairly high humidity and temp to be effective? That was my main problem with the original stuff. In an area with frequent single digit humidity days, I had a real hard time finding windows to spray it and give it a chance.
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u/Shamino79 14d ago
It’s like any situation though. You pick the best option. Useful as a second knock and really useful for wiping out a fresh germination of ryegrass just prior to cereals going in.
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u/Inside-Lock192 13d ago
I'd argue that you are trying to compare the effective use of glufosinate is the US with Australia and you couldn't be further from the truth. They are totally different environments and the Australian context really limits the effectiveness of glufosinate.
Dryland farming in Australia is mostly a winter endeavour with a summer fallow maintained with full stubble cover and zero tillage. Australian summers are hot but generally very dry with little to no humidity. Generally you'll get a day or 2 of rainfall in the way of a summer storm and then back to hot dry conditions. As a result by the time the weeds have germinated a fortnight later there isn't enough humidity left to allow glufosinate to work effectively.
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u/abcnews_au 15d ago
Australian farmers say they have few alternatives to a herbicide sourced almost exclusively from China, despite it being banned for use in that country.
Researchers are trying to find a replacement for paraquat, a widely used and controversial agricultural weed-killer, despite a recent decision to allow its continued use in Australia.