QAL Laws & Regulation Practice Exam

When a farmer disks weeds in his field, what kind of control is he practicing?

1. Cultural Control

2. Biological Control

3. Mechanical Control

4. Chemical Control

The correct answer is: Cultural Control

The correct answer is that the farmer is practicing mechanical control. Mechanical control refers to the physical removal of weeds and pests from an area, which can include methods like tilling, disking, or hand-pulling. By disking the weeds, the farmer is using a physical method to disrupt the weeds' growth, thereby managing their presence in the field. Cultural control concerns practices that enhance crop growth while suppressing pests, such as crop rotation or adjusting planting times, which does not apply in this scenario. Biological control involves the use of natural predators or parasites of the weeds or pests, which is distinctly different from the mechanical actions taken here. Chemical control refers to the use of herbicides or pesticides to manage weeds or pests, which again is not relevant to the scenario of physically disking weeds in the field. Therefore, the practice of disking weeds is firmly categorized under mechanical control due to the physical method employed.