Group photo of UGA Weed Science team in Arkansas, 2025 at the Southern Weed Science Contest.

The UGA Weed Science team traveled to the Jackson County Extension Center in Newport, Arkansas, for the Southern Weed Science Society’s annual Weed Science Contest. Students competed in correctly identifying (and spelling the common name and genus/species correctly) 100 weedy species, solving real-world farmer problems, completing an individual calibration test, working together to calibrate a sprayer for a real-world scenario, and identifying herbicide symptomology for 25 different herbicides. The team also competed in a mystery event — this year it was a good old fashioned egg toss, to encourage the students to have a little fun in a fiercely competitive contest.

This was the largest and most diverse group of students that the UGA Weed Science team has fielded in at least the last decade. There were sixteen graduate students from Weed Science, Precision Ag, Cotton Agronomy, Crop Physiology, and Forage research groups. The group also included an MPPPM student!

Well done, team!