International Efforts Combat Crop-Destroying Weeds

WASHINGTON (April 14, 2021) – Weeds are a constant, formidable foe, whether to the multi-acre farmer or the backyard gardener. Every year across the globe, weed management demands billions of dollars in herbicidal treatments, or soil-damaging tillage of fields so crops can grow. The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) is awarding $1.5 million to establish the International Weed Genomics Consortium (IWGC), an ambitious new project aimed at improved management of the most intractable species of weeds in the world. The $3 million consortium is supported by $1.5 million in matching funds from industry sponsorships.  

Large-scale weed control is usually accomplished by spraying expensive herbicides, but weeds can adapt and evolve resistance to such treatments. The IWGC, led by weed scientists at Colorado State University (CSU) and comprising 15 academic partners across seven countries, is assembling a global community of experts from science and industry to develop genomic tools that fundamentally advance humanity’s approach to weeds and crops.

The planned whole-genome approach to advance knowledge of specific weed species is a long time coming, according to project director Dr. Todd Gaines, associate professor of molecular weed science in CSU’s Department of Agricultural Biology. “When you think about weeds, what makes them great is they are adapted to the harshest situations,” Gaines said. “They are the most cold tolerant, the most salt tolerant, the most heat tolerant.”

By applying tools from genomics and molecular biology to advance weed science, weeds’ stress tolerance could be applied to crops, and traditional management strategies could be reduced or retired, Gaines explained.

The IWGC pinpointed 10 initial species of weeds to sequence complete genomes. For example, the group plans to sequence the genome for a type of barnyard grass especially detrimental to rice fields that has grown tolerant to traditional flooding-based management practices.

FFAR’s support will enable the sequencing of additional species of weeds, including perennial weeds and aquatic varieties, to drive even more fundamental knowledge of weed biology.  In particular, it will allow the consortium to look at weedy species that are problematic to both conventional and organic producers.

IWGC project manager and CSU research scientist Dr. Sarah Morran called weeds the “wild west of genetics” – which is why weeds are such a respectable and fascinating opponent.

In addition to the genomes, the team will create user-friendly genome analytical tools and training, particularly to serve early-career weed scientists. Another goal of the consortium is to facilitate collaboration and workforce development within the emerging field of weed science.

Some of that development will take place through relationships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including North Carolina A&T State University. Consortium leaders are seeking to increase representation of traditionally underrepresented groups within the academic and industry pipeline of weed science.

The IWGC will complete the 10 weed genomes within three years, in close partnership with sponsoring company Corteva, which will provide the expertise and resources for gold-standard genome assemblies. Corresponding annotations of these assemblies will be led by partners at Michigan State University. That information will be given confidentially to sponsoring companies for one year, and later, uploaded to public databases.

Results and information will be shared via annual conferences made possible by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture funding. The first conference is slated for September 2021 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Founding industry sponsors of the International Weed Genomics Consortium are Bayer CropScience, BASF, Corteva Agriscience, Syngenta and CropLife International. The academic partners are CSU, Clemson University, Auburn University, University of Illinois, Oregon State University, Michigan State University, University of California-Davis, University of Adelaide, University of Western Australia, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Zhejiang University, Kyoto University, Seoul National University, Agricultural Research Organization (Israel), and Rothamsted Research.

The consortium is open to additional corporate partnerships. More information can be found at weedgenomics.org.

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Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) builds public-private partnerships to fund bold research addressing big food and agriculture challenges. FFAR was established in the 2014 Farm Bill to increase public agriculture research investments, fill knowledge gaps and complement the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s research agenda. FFAR’s model matches federal funding from Congress with private funding, delivering a powerful return on taxpayer investment. Through collaboration and partnerships, FFAR advances actionable science benefiting farmers, consumers and the environment.

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