NDSU Pesticide Program Specialist Andrew Thostenson is set to retire at the end of the month. Heading into the final weeks of his tenure at NDSU, Thostenson took time to look back at how much pesticide use in agriculture has changed since taking over the position nearly 30 years ago. “We are vastly better at applying pesticides just because of the technology that we have to bear now.” Thostenson insists the biggest impact on the industry is the rise of pesticide resistance. “When I was starting out here at NDSU, resistance to herbicides was well known, well documented, but it wasn’t as widespread and pervasive as we see today. The rise of resistance has really driven us to do things that I couldn’t even imagine doing 30 years ago. Nowadays, you’re really not in the league unless you’re applying a three-way tank mix of pesticides with different modes of action to try and get out at this resistance issue.”
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