The Value of Pest Information in a Dynamic Setting: The Case of Weed Control

The value of weed scouting information for soil‐applied and post‐emergence weed management is estimated using a dynamic, whole‐farm, stochastic simulation model. The model simulates outcomes of four expected utility functions from management strategies using three levels of weed information. Results from a representative Minnesota corn and soybean farm indicate high value of weed seedling counts (for post‐emergence control) but relatively low value of weed seed counts (for soil‐applied control). While herbicide use is often reduced under information based management, this is not always the case.