PIGGOTT — Arkansas farmers are taking a stand against herbicide-resistant pigweed.
The plants have been seeding early this year because of the warm spring. The warm weather was so early that the days were short enough to trigger a reproductive response in the pigweed plants, so they started to seed in the spring rather than in the fall.
Farmers can combat the weed with a careful program of herbicides that work on the plant.
Pigweed can grow up to an inch a day, and it robs row crops of fertilizer and water.
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture has organized Zero Tolerance zones in parts of east Arkansas, where farmers work together to prevent pigweeds from maturing and creating seeds.
One pigweed plant can drop up to 1.5 million seeds.