Growing up on his family’s dryland wheat farm near Flagler, Todd Gaines was made aware at a very young age of the challenges weeds present to modern farmers.
“We had puncturevine, or goat heads as they’re sometimes known, around our farm,” he said. “Whenever my siblings and I would get into arguments we had to chop a bucket full of them. It proved the value of a long-term weed management plan – after about 20 years of arguments, the farm was mostly rid of puncturevine!”
Gaines also shares stories about the impact of jointed goatgrass on wheat and Canada thistle on all aspects of life in and around the Flagler community while growing up. He utilized the hands-on knowledge gained in those experiences to help him win the state FFA prepared public speaking contest — his speech was entitled “The Noxious Weed Next Door” — and to write the essay that helped him land a prestigious Boettcher Scholarship to attend Colorado State University, where he went on to earn B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the College of Agricultural Sciences.
Those experiences led Gaines to where he is now: an associate professor of Agricultural Biology at CSU and a renowned international expert on weed science. He has been helping Colorado farmers fight the weeds that plague wheat, corn, sugar beet and other crops for many years, and he has taken his expertise to Australia and Germany to help those farmers fight the never-ending war with weeds.
His most recent work has been in Australia, where he spent a portion of his sabbatical partnering with the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative at the University of Western Australia in Perth. Gaines said Western Australia and Eastern Colorado farmers face many of the same challenges, with weed control essential for sustainable production. In 2021, in partnership with scientists and industry professionals from around the globe, Gaines launched an ambitious new project aimed at improving management of the more intractable species of weeds in the world.
“I did some post-doc work in Australia and have maintained active research ties ever since,” Gaines said. “I got to spend the year sharing ideas and thinking of ways that we can work together over the next 5 years to solve some of these problems.”
A recent study revealed that the three biggest enemies to crops – weeds, disease and insects – can damage up to 50 percent of wheat crops and up to 80 percent of cotton crops. Weeds have developed resistance to even the strongest herbicides, leaving farmers vulnerable to severe damage. That’s why Gaines decided to view the battle from a different perspective, looking at weeds’ molecular makeup to find weaknesses.
Early results have been promising. The liquid application he helped invent is not only effective but environmentally friendly.
“I’m very excited about this current research into spray-on gene silencing methods of weed control,” he said. “Instead of targeting the proteins that traditional herbicides target, we are using small pieces of nucleic acid to trigger natural silencing pathways for mRNA, which can knock out the expression of those genes. If we can improve delivery and efficacy, this can potentially provide a whole new menu of weed control options with favorable environmental and toxicology profiles.
“This same method could also be used to help crops with responses to diseases, insects and even drought.”
In other words, it’s game-changing research. Impressive stuff from a guy whose first weapons against weeds were a shovel and bucket back on the family farm.
