Electric Weed Zapper Rebounds as Herbicide Resistance Grows

Kevin Olson builds 20 to 50 Lasco Lightning Weeders a year in Ottertail, Minnesota — and he can't keep up. "The demand is just exploding for us," Olson said, after showing the high-voltage machine at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California, last spring and the Big Iron Farm and Construction Show in Fargo, North Dakota, in mid-September 2026.

The machine kills weeds with electricity, not chemistry. An applicator bar mounts to the front of the tractor; electrical boxes ride on the back. The bar delivers a high-voltage current into the weed, the plant conducts it, and the current boils the plant's liquid, rupturing cell walls and killing it. Hydraulics control the bar's height, an electric tilt adjusts its angle, and the operator dials output from a cab-mounted control panel. Olson tells growers to run the bar slightly above the crop canopy.

What does it replace?

For sugarbeet farmers, the target is herbicide-resistant kochia, redroot pigweed and water hemp. Timing matters. "What we want to do is kill that plant before that seed becomes viable," Olson said. "The earlier we can get out there in the field, the better."

The machine also clears "rogue" weeds before harvest so they don't wrap around the rotobeater. "Once we kill them, they dry up and fly on through," Olson said.

Performance depends on contact, species and conductivity. The bar works best when it hits the weed's main stem and as many branches as possible. Younger weeds — generally 4 to 6 inches tall — and thin stands die easier than mature, dense populations. Olson says scattered infestations ideally need three passes, not one.

How does it hold up in the field?

Michael "Mitch" Dusek, who raises sugarbeets in northeast North Dakota and goes by "Beet Farmin' Mitch," filmed drone footage of the weeder zapping water hemp. It didn't eliminate every weed, but he'd deploy it on moderate-to-severe infestations. "It was worth doing. I think it did a good job and significantly reduced the water hemp population," Dusek said.

Ethan Johnson, a Glyndon, Minnesota, sugarbeet farmer who now sells the machines as a dealer, ran one across his entire 1,000-acre sugarbeet crop in his first year after he and his dad bought a refurbished unit. This past summer he treated about 500 acres of his own beets, and he and his brother Logan did custom weed-zapping on roughly 3,000 more.

"We keep that tractor running 24 hours a day, anywhere from Drayton (North Dakota) to Wahpeton (North Dakota)," Johnson said. He also uses the weeder to clean up fields ahead of pre-pile harvest. "It's not an overnight cure, but at least when you weed-zap the weeds, you don't have to worry about wear and tear on your equipment," he said.

Johnson's motivation is personal. As a kid, his grandfather drafted him and his brothers into hoeing fields after lunch. "Basically every time we went to lunch in July and August, after lunch, we went to hoe weeds," Johnson said. When herbicide-resistant water hemp and rogue canola hit his own fields, he looked for a better tool.

A Red River Valley technology, twice revived

Olson, an electrician, started repairing lightning weeders in 1981, when about 200 were in operation, sold up and down the Red River Valley from the Canadian border to southern Minnesota. Demand faded in the mid-1980s and collapsed when sugarbeet herbicides took over. "That was the biggest downfall of our production. The chemical formulation was controlling the weeds," Olson said.

Organic growers revived interest in the early 1990s. In 2019, Olson moved from repairs into manufacturing and upgraded the design: a digital control panel replacing the old analog one, castors on the grounding coulters so they roll in either direction, and aluminum covers replacing heavy steel.

He and three employees build two lines. The LW10 series runs on 130- to 350-horsepower tractors; the LW2 series fits 27- to 65-horsepower machines and serves California blueberry farmers and small vegetable growers. Beyond sugarbeets, Olson markets to organic and fruit-and-vegetable producers nationwide.

When Olson asked Johnson to become a dealer, he agreed immediately. "I absolutely love this product. It's something I can stand behind. I'm happy to sell it because farmers enjoy using it. I love the whole idea of it," Johnson said.

With herbicide resistance spreading through sugarbeet country and orders stacking up after two straight trade-show seasons, Olson's four-person shop in Ottertail looks set to stay busy.