This season is the last chance to test your blackgrass, Italian ryegrass, wild oats, brome and problem grass and broad-leaved weeds for resistance to herbicides for free.

Harvest 2026 is the last widespread and free resistance testing that will be provided through the Department of Agriculture-funded EVOLVE grass weed project at Teagasc Oak Park. Testing will be on a targeted, case-by-case basis after this.

Teagasc’s Vijaya Bhaskar encouraged growers to take seed samples and send them to Oak Park for testing to make the most of the service. Testing for resistance allows farmers to find out which products work on the problem weeds and which products do not, ensuring a better control programme.

Of the weeds sampled so far under the project 64% of blackgrass samples, 79% of Italian ryegrass, 55% of spring wild oats and 71% of annual meadow grass were resistant to a herbicide or a number of herbicides.