Ehsan Zeidali

Ethics, derived from the Greek concept of ethos, provides a foundation for evaluating how human practices align with collective ideals. Agriculture, as one of humanity’s most fundamental endeavors, requires ethical scrutiny across dimensions of human welfare, animal rights, environmental protection, and social justice. Within this context, weed management represents a critical yet often overlooked domain where ecological pressures, technological innovation, and social inequities converge. This article offers a critical analysis of the ethical landscape of weed management, arguing for an integrated framework to navigate its complexities. To ensure a comprehensive evidence base, we conducted a systematic literature search in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines, identifying 78 relevant studies from an initial pool of 434 records. Drawing on insights from environmental ethics, agroecology, and science-and-technology studies, we critically examine how herbicide dependence, digital agriculture, biological control, and herbicide-resistant technologies reshape relationships among farmers, communities, and ecosystems. Our analysis identifies deep-seated governance gaps and structural power imbalances that impede equitable sustainability transitions. We contend that prevailing efficiency-focused paradigms are ethically insufficient and must be replaced with approaches centered on justice and stewardship. The paper concludes by outlining a conceptual framework and policy pathways grounded in participatory governance, precautionary regulation, and ethical data governance, arguing that a reimagined, ethically informed approach to weed management is essential for the Anthropocene, defined here as a condition of human-driven ecological transformation that expands ethical responsibility.