Why worry about invasive plants?
No matter where you live, on a farm, in the suburbs, or in a high-rise apartment building, non-native plants will have some affect on your life. How so? Well, you experience the impact of these plants daily and probably don’t realize it. The price you pay for groceries at the market reflects the farmer’s costs of weed (aka invasive plants) control. Farmers continually fight the battle of controlling invasive plants because they reduce yields, interfere with harvesting operations, and reduce the quality of their crops. Low quality crops in turn results in low quality products on your grocer’s shelves. Agricultural losses and control costs due to invasive plants are estimated at $15 billion per year in the U.S. Invasive plants interfere with recreational activities in parks, refuges, forests, grasslands, and other natural areas. Since such lands are usually maintained by public agencies, costs associated with invasive plant management are passed on to you in the form of higher taxes or f
