Community-based management addresses the three major reasons farmers do not take action to control herbicide resistant weeds. First, it brings neighbors together in order to reach a threshold where enough farmers are managing herbicide resistance to minimize local spread. This addresses farmers’ feelings of pointlessness when their actions can be undone by poor management from neighbors. Second, statistical modeling has shown that when farmers see community action as a viable method of herbicide resistance control, they lessen their reliance on the development of a new herbicide mode of action. Finally, pooling the resources of a community—not just the farmers, but the crop advisors, university extension, and more—creates greater capacity for management. How, then, do we go about creating these communities of management? Drawing on listening sessions from ongoing research in the Pacific Northwest, we discuss the fundamental indicators of preparedness for community-based herbicide resistance management initiatives and describe how these can be used to tailor development plans within diverse communities.
