See that tall weed growing in Layne Miles' soybean field? That's a pigweed plant, and with all the seeds on the top of it, it can reproduce very quickly to take over a large section of the field. Weeds compete with the crops for nutrition in the soil and space for receiving sunlight. The loss of these necessary resources results in unhealthy crops and lower yields.

Natural Genetic Modification

Watch this short clip and hear Layne use the example of how pigweed has, unfortunately, naturally modified itself to become resistant to common herbicides. He explains, however, that scientists oversee this very same process in a beneficial way when developing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be more tolerant to environmental hardships.