Original concept: The editor would like to acknowledge Vanessa Stewart and team members of the Integrated Weed Management project (Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia), the CRC for Australian Weed Management (Weeds CRC) and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) for their original vision to produce a technical guide specifically for cropping industries in Australia. This manual was seen as a critical step towards more effective weed management nationally and supported the education of farm advisers across all states. Strong collaboration between a nationally distributed team ensured that the original Western Australian concept was developed further to become the Integrated weed management in Australian cropping systems manual, tailored to meet the needs of farm advisers and growers throughout the cropping zones of Australia.

With the termination of the Weeds CRC in 2008, the GRDC saw value in updating the manual so that it remains a relevant reference and training resource for these rapidly changing times. This second edition is an update of the first groundbreaking edition.