Organic farmers aim to design a farming system that minimizes opportunities for weed germination, growth, and seed set. They "confuse the weeds" by designing a rotation that varies the timing of soil disturbance (when fields are tilled and cultivated). They strive to keep soil covered with crop and cover crop plants as much as possible to minimize opportunities for weed germination and growth. They cover crop and add organic materials to improve soil quality as that can increase the rate of seed decay and suppress weed germination. They mulch with organic residues or by roll-killing cover crops in place. When this system of weed suppression strategies is insufficient, they destroy weeds with mechanical or hand cultivation. Organic farmers may use herbicides (those allowed for use on organic farms) as an additional tool in an overall systems plan to manage weeds. As is true for other pest management materials used on organic farms, the farmer must first employ (and describe in his/her farm plan) all alternative weed management strategies before deciding to apply a weed management material. For more information, see the eOrganic articles "Twelve Steps to Organic Weed Management" at http://www.extension.org/article/18539 and "Can I Use this Product on my Organic Farm?" at http://www.extension.org/article/18321.

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