Weeds cost Australian grain and cotton growers $4.43 billion annually in losses and control. This evolving challenge requires ongoing R&D investment across diverse crops, regions and management systems.

Key points

• Weeds remain one of the most significant costs to Australian crop growers, with ongoing evolution in weed types, resistance, and cropping systems requiring constant adaptation.
• Nationally weeds cost grain and cotton producers $4.4 billion annually, average $206 per hectare; $4.3 billion ($203 per ha) in grain crops and $145 million ($445/ha) in cotton crops.
• Revenue losses in grain and cotton crops contribute to a modest 13 per cent of the total costs at $576 million, while expenditure costs, which include herbicide and non-herbicide practices make 87 per cent of the total costs.
• Growers invest heavily in herbicide-based weed control, the combined in-crop and fallow costs are on average $128 per hectare (including chemical and application costs) and account for most of the expenditure costs. Despite this, growers are also investing in a range of IWM practices that offer multiple benefits.
• Revenue losses are underpinned by yield losses, total 1.2 million tonnes of yield loss or three per cent of production, resulting in low in-crop weed densities.
• On average, revenue losses cost grain and cotton growers $27/ha, which is lower than the cost of some herbicide treatments, suggesting growers are motivated by short-term yield protection and long-term goals of reducing the weed seed bank.
• The major weeds in terms of national cost to grain crops are annual ryegrass, brome grass, sow thistle, wild radish and wild oats, demonstrating the ongoing dominance of ryegrass, while the most costly fallow weeds in grain production at a national level are melons, heliotrope and fleabane.

2016 edition

View the 2016 edition of Impact of weeds on Australian grain production.

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