ADAMA Canada introduced CAZADO™, the country’s first dual-mode herbicide for wild oats in wheat, to Western Canadian growers in early 2025. With a full season of in-market use behind it and the 2026 spray window now open, we sat down with Ambrely Ralph, Product Manager, Herbicides at ADAMA Canada, to talk about the state of wild oat resistance in Western Canada, what year one taught the team, and where the conversation goes from here.
Wild oat herbicide resistance keeps coming up as one of the biggest agronomic challenges facing Western Canadian wheat growers. From where you sit, what does the resistance picture actually look like heading into 2026?
It’s serious, and it’s not slowing down. Roughly 75 percent of wild oat populations across Western Canada now show resistance to either Group 1 or Group 2 herbicides, and in some fields, to both. Growers can lose 7 to 20 percent of their spring wheat yield to wild oats when control breaks down. What we’re hearing from agronomists is that the conversation has shifted from “Is there resistance in my fields?” to “How much is in my fields?” Single-mode herbicide programs that worked ten years ago are leaving resistant biotypes behind, and those biotypes set seed and spread. The pressure on every other tool in the rotation keeps building.
ADAMA launched CAZADO last year as Canada’s first dual-mode wild oat herbicide for wheat. What does “dual-mode” actually mean, and why does it matter for resistance management?
Dual-mode means CAZADO uses two different modes of action in every application. We combined pinoxaden, a Group 1 herbicide, with thiencarbazone, a Group 2 herbicide, both at full rate. A wild oat in your wheat field has to be resistant to both chemistries at once to survive a CAZADO application, and that’s far less likely than resistance to a single mode of action. For growers, that translates to two practical things: better control of resistant populations in the immediate term, and slower resistance development over the long term. You’re using two tools at the same time instead of one after the other. That’s the foundation of a sustainable resistance management strategy.
It’s been a full season since CAZADO entered the Canadian market. What have you learned from growers and agronomists who used it in 2025?
A lot. We had more than 50 grower trials across Western Canada on top of commercial application, and in those trials CAZADO achieved a 93 percent success rate against competitor programs. The more meaningful data, though, is anecdotal. The conversations we’re having with growers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and the Peace are landing on a consistent theme: people who’d been chasing resistant wild oats for three, four, five seasons in a row are seeing clean fields again. Some of them tell us they were skeptical going into it, but after one season, they’re telling us they’re making CAZADO part of their regular rotation.
Many growers reading this will be in the middle of their wild oats spray window. What should they be thinking about as they finalize decisions this spring?
Two things. First, timing. The 2 to 4 leaf wheat stage with wild oats at the 1 to 3 leaf stage is the sweet spot. Wild oats get a lot harder to control past the 4-leaf stage. If you’re scouting now and the window is open, that’s the moment. Second, application discipline matters as much as product choice. Use adequate water volume, 5 to 10 US gallons per acre, with 10 recommended for best efficacy. Don’t compromise on rate. Spray when weeds are actively growing and conditions are warm. The dual-mode chemistry does the work, but the application gives it the conditions to succeed. No product carries a poor application.
Stepping back from any single product, how should the industry be approaching wild oat resistance over the next decade?
The answer is the same as it was ten years ago: use multiple modes of action, rotate them, and don’t let any single chemistry carry the load. What’s changed is the urgency, and the recognition that we can’t wait for a new chemistry to bail us out. New modes of action don’t come along very often. Our job, collectively, is to protect the ones we have. That means making multi-mode-of-action use the rule, not the exception, in grassy weed control. It means agronomists, growers, retailers, and manufacturers having honest conversations about what’s working and what isn’t. And it means treating resistance management as a long-term investment, not a year-by-year fight.
For more on CAZADO, including label and application details, visit CAZADO.ca or talk to your local ADAMA Area Business Manager.
Always read and follow label directions. CAZADO™ is a trademark of an ADAMA Group Company. ©2026 ADAMA Agricultural Solutions Canada Ltd.
Ambrely Ralph
Product Manager, Herbicides
ADAMA Canada