Farmer invents machinery that smashes bejesus out of weed seeds

September 20, 2024 5:37 AM

Farmer invents machinery that smashes bejesus out of weed seeds. Weeds cost Australia's crop farming industry around $3.3 billion dollars [US $2.25 billion dollars] each year, but a home-grown invention that crushes herbicide-resistant weed seeds could make that a problem of the past.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (19 comments total)

I worry about that bejesus byproduct, though. I’ve heard that bejesus is difficulty to store and can leech into the aquifer.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:43 AM on September 20 [13 favorites]

What a great invention. I'm all in favor of non-chemical interventions.
posted by hydra77 at 6:07 AM on September 20 [5 favorites]

That sounds so very satisfying.
posted by mersen at 6:11 AM on September 20

First thought on reading post title: "I call it: Hammer."

Second thought on reading article: "Streuth, it really is a big bloody hammer."
posted by rory at 6:15 AM on September 20 [3 favorites]

I love the picture of the uncle next to the machine, he's so bloody happy and proud in that picture.
posted by Art_Pot at 6:34 AM on September 20 [4 favorites]

I'm reminded of a Peanuts cartoon about Lucy saying she's stomping on cold germs. "No germ has built up a resistance to being stomped on."
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:38 AM on September 20 [3 favorites]

"The herbicide resistance of weeds is a well-known fact, but there's nothing resistant to Australian steel,"¹ Mr Ashenden said.

[1] Dundee, M. 1986. "You Call That a Knife: Comparative Steel Evaluation." Audiovisual Journal of Broad Stereotypes 27, vol. 12
posted by phooky at 6:44 AM on September 20 [42 favorites]

That is absofuckinlutely brilliant. Using the weed seed collection that the harvest was doing already! Duh!
posted by clew at 6:55 AM on September 20 [1 favorite]

One thing I forgot to add: given the link between some herbicides and farmers getting Parkinson's Disease[1], this is potentially really good for the health of farmers as well as really good for the environment.

[1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-11/parkinsons-australia-calls-for-ban-on-paraquat/104337424
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 7:14 AM on September 20 [7 favorites]

Weed reduction, soil protection and SMASH!

What a satisfying invention.
posted by EvaDestruction at 7:38 AM on September 20 [1 favorite]

What about stolons, though? Bermuda grass is notoriously spreads through runners and is very aggressive. The stolons are extremely durable. I once read instructions on how to compost stolons. "Step One: collect Bermuda grass into a plastic bag. Step Two: wait two years for the stolons to die. Step Three: sift remains and anything that doesn't pass the sieve, burn with fire."
posted by SPrintF at 8:13 AM on September 20 [4 favorites]

Yeah, if you've ever tried to get Fennel out of your yard, good luck with that. Not sure if they count as stolons, or, since they are underground, rhizomes, but what a horrible plant.

Good for this invention though.
posted by Windopaene at 9:39 AM on September 20

This post is incomplete without a video of the smashy smashy.
posted by Soliloquy at 9:40 AM on September 20 [4 favorites]

Interestingly, the related links show that a different Australian farmer, Ray Harrington, invented a similar weed seed crushing device, and both were invented before or around 2017. A quick Google scholar search turns up papers that show that this innovation might have legs in North America. Very neat!
posted by Pitachu at 9:56 AM on September 20 [2 favorites]

Super interesting thanks. I first went to uni intending to become a weed scientist (and have studied them a lot) but discovered landscape architecture and switched courses that day. But I still like some weeds; the right weed in the right place is very useful.

SPrintF, stolons yes, I hope they've considered they may have made a brome grass propagator!
posted by unearthed at 10:40 AM on September 20

That's genius, I wonder if something changed about combine harvesters to make it feasible, or if it's just simply that no one had thought of it before.

> I first went to uni intending to become a weed scientist

I believe that's true of many students.
posted by lucidium at 11:01 AM on September 20 [7 favorites]

I’ve heard that bejesus is difficulty to store and can leech into the aquifer.

Sure can, and it's readily transported by surface waters as well. There are heaps of people walking around today without a clue just how loaded up they are with forever miracles.
posted by flabdablet at 2:20 PM on September 20

Everything else in Australia is ten times deadlier than the rest of the world; might as well breed weeds whose seeds can't be crushed by industrial steel hammers.
posted by straight at 3:07 PM on September 20

(theme song for the hammers)

You're the one I don't want, one I don't want...
boom-boom-boom!
The one I don't want, one I don't want...
boom-boom-boom!

You I don't need... cause you're a wee-ee-ee-ee-eed!
posted by demi-octopus at 1:18 PM on September 22