UW-Madison Extension holds electric weed control demonstration in Chippewa County

CHIPPEWA FALLS — As Chippewa Valley farmer Adam Seibel drives down the rows of the soybean field in his tractor, a series of orange zaps and a puff of smoke means that the attached “weed zapper” is doing its job.

As part of a casual field day for the UW-Madison Extension in Chippewa, Dunn and Eau Claire counties, people from the Future Farmers of America, the Department of Natural Resources, Chippewa County Department of Land Conservation and others saw a demonstration of electric weed control.

“The weed zapper is an electric weed management tool that provides a voltage of electricity through the weeds and then they die,” said Jerry Clark, Regional Extension Educator for the three counties. “It allows the crops to grow ahead of the weeds so there is maybe more potential for production there and better yields.”

Primarily designed for beans, the zapper goes over the top of field crops zapping ragweed that towers over the soybean. Seibel, a farmer out of Bloomer, said the ragweed poses a danger to soybeans by growing over the weed and grabbing a majority of the sunlight, which can kill the plant and impact the yield on crops during harvest.

Seibel brought the device down to Chippewa Falls and demonstrated how the generator flows roughly 15,000 watts of electricity while passing through a plot which was organically farmed, relying on natural principles rather than herbicides to kill weeds. Alternatively, Seibel would have to rely on hand pulling a majority of the weeds, which can take up more time.

But in answering the purpose of the demonstration, Clark said taking a look at this technology, displaying it and asking questions is part of Extension’s role.

“As new equipment comes along or farmers are willing to show off what they have invested in or if there is some new technology farmers have invested in, Extension is in the education research business… and it is a way to get more farmers to look at a new technology or at least see it in the field in action and then what can we provide from an educational standpoint,” he said.

Clark said one thing he was wondering was about how running a current through these weeds affects the soil, if at all. While there are many more questions about it, today served primarily as a demonstration for the technology as they do not have any intentions to target it for research at this time.

But as an agricultural educator, Clark said opportunities like this, when farmers are willing to show off what they invested in, allow them to get awareness of farming tools.

“It’s maybe not new technology, but it is getting improved every year as far as some of the efficiency with the electrical generation and fuel consumption of the tractors… It has been out there for a little while, but the fact is that you have got new equipment being developed that is more efficient and works a little better,” he said.