Knowledge workshop on “Redesign options for cropping systems without access to pesticides”: Case study: growing winter wheat without herbicides

Modern winter wheat production relies heavily on herbicides for weed control, but regulatory restrictions, herbicide resistance, and environmental concerns are increasing the need for viable alternatives. This knowledge workshop examines how cropping systems can be redesigned to maintain effective weed regulation and productive winter wheat cultivation without herbicides. It adopts a systems perspective, moving beyond the direct substitution of chemical products to consider how preventive, cultural, mechanical, and ecological practices can be combined. Potential redesign options include diversified crop rotations, competitive wheat cultivars, adjusted sowing dates and seed densities, stale seedbeds, cover crops, modified spatial crop arrangements, mechanical and precision weeding, and improved monitoring and decision support. Particular attention is given to interactions among these practices and their effectiveness under different soil conditions, weed communities, weather patterns and farm-resource constraints. The workshop evaluates performance not only through weed suppression and grain yield, but also yield stability, soil health, biodiversity, energy use, labour requirements, operational feasibility, and farm profitability. It also considers potential trade-offs, including increased machinery use, soil disturbance, management complexity, and weed-seed bank accumulation. Drawing on agronomic evidence and practitioner knowledge, the workshop identifies promising combinations of practices, key evidence gaps and priorities for field testing. It argues that reliable herbicide-free winter wheat production is unlikely to result from a single alternative technology; instead, it requires the coordinated redesign of rotations, field operations and farm decision-making.