On July 30^th, 2024, 24 University of Guelph students took part in the NorthEastern Weed Science Collegiate Contest at the NCSU Education Farm in Raleigh, North Carolina. Students from Guelph, the sole Canadian university at the contest, joined participants from eight USA universities who were tested for their skills and knowledge in plant identification, herbicide symptomology diagnostic, sprayer calibration and agronomy problem-solving.

Individually, Marissa Jeens finished 1^st, Ben Fluttert 2^nd and Karen Reymer 3^rd. The team of Lauren Hoonard, Jillian Hamm, Natalie Medland, and Danielle Vogels placed first, that of Maggie Durnin, Ben Fluttert, Marissa Jeens, and Sophie Van Den Borre, ranked second, and the team of Colby Older, Karen Reymer, Jillian Ohm, Max Van Den Borre took third place.

The Guelph Weeds Team was coached by François Tardif and Peter Smith from the department of Plant Agriculture with help from Mike Cowbrough and Meghan Grguric. The Weeds Team is very grateful for the generous support it is getting from multiple sponsors: the OAC Learning Trust (undergraduate) and Richards Trust (graduate), the Grain Farmers of Ontario, BASF, Bayer Crop Science, Syngenta, Corteva Agriscience, Valent, Nufarm, and FMC.

The 2024 Guelph Weeds Team: From left to right, first row: Natalie Medland, Taylor Legge, Sophie Van Den Borre, Dani Vogels, Peyton Nailor, and François Tardif; second row: Kiara Driscoll, Marissa Jeens, Karen Reymer, Vincent Severino, Olivia Beckett, and Maggie Durnin; third row: Ken McKenzie, Ben Fluttert, Colby Older, Ian Lawton, Max Van Den Borre, Lauren Hoonard, Jillian Hamm, Jillian Ohm and Peter Smith