Farm Press and Monsanto Company have launched an online educational course on weed resistance management that offers continuing education credit/units for licensed applicators and Certified Crop Advisers in seven key Cotton Belt states.

The course, developed by Farm Press, is linked from the Web sites of three of the leading Cotton Belt agricultural publications, Southeast Farm Press, Delta Farm Press, and Southwest Farm Press.

This course not only details strategies for preventing herbicide resistance in weeds in cotton, it will also offer continuing education hours/units for licensed applicators in Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee.

American Society of Agronomy Certified Crop Advisers credit is pending.

“For the past three years Monsanto has partnered with Western Farm Press in sponsoring an online continuing education course for pest control advisors and other licensed applicators in California and Arizona,” said Monsanto’s Rick Cole.

“This Western course has proven to be very helpful and popular to PCAs in California and Arizona in managing weed resistance in a wide array of row crops and permanent crops in the West,” said Cole.

Monsanto decided to take the successful online course for credit idea across the Cotton Belt using the other three Farm Press publications.

“Weed resistance is a major issue with the Roundup technology in cotton. It is important to Monsanto and to the U.S. cotton industry that this very vital technology remains economically viable for decades to come,” said Cole. “This educational component is an important element to that goal.”

The course offers strategies to maintain efficacy of Roundup in cotton gleaned from a wide array of research projects and recommendations from leading cotton weed control specialists across the U.S.

The courses is free, available online 24/7 and easy to complete. Once completed, Farm Press notifies the accrediting state agency or certification organization that the licensee has earned the credit hours.

This is the 15th course developed and now online at Farm Press publications. Farm Press has been offering online courses for a little more than four ears. To date more than 15,000 courses have been completed for credit hours.

Courses are accredited by state licensing agencies in California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.

“Monsanto has been a key partner with Farm Press in the very successful online courses,” said Penton vice-president Greg Frey. Farm Press is part of Penton Media.

“The fact the total of online courses completed is approaching 16,000 is testimony to the fact that this form of gaining CE hours/units is popular and very convenient,” said Frey.

Most of our courses to date have focused on the West and Southwest. “We are excited about taking this program and expanding it across the U.S. Cotton Belt.”