ADOPTION OF HERBACEOUS WEED-CONTROL BY SOUTHERN FOREST INDUSTRY

Herbaceous weed control has been demonstrated to confer a significant growth advantage to southern pine plantations, thereby accelerating ha rvest schedules and enhancing the economic attractiveness of regenerat ion investments. Despite this attractiveness, previous research sugges ts that herbaceous weed control technology has been adopted by industr ies in the South on only a small portion of the potentially applicable area. This paper discusses the extent to which herbaceous weed contro l is being used by southern forest industries and identifies factors i nfluencing its adoption. We hypothesize that a combination of more att ractive alternative investment opportunities, environmental or legal c oncerns, perceived public concern over chemical use, and a planning cy cle time lag may partially explain the apparently slow rate of herbace ous weed control adoption. The study data comprise results from a mail survey of industrial herbaceous weed control users in die South.