Weeds Are Now Resisting Monsanto Weed Killer, Spurring Crisis in American Agriculture
Yep, thanks to Monsanto Roundup, American agriculture is in quite a fix now. See, Monsanto sells genetically modified seed that's supposed to survive spraying with their weedkiller. Unfortunately, the weeds learned to resist it - and now their GMO seed is struggling against the pesticide-resistant weeds that evolved as a result of their own product.
Wouldn't it be nice if companies thought that far ahead before they pushed their products into the mainstream? And wouldn't it be nice if we had government agencies that didn't rubber stamp them?
DYERSBURG, Tenn. — For 15 years, Eddie Anderson, a farmer, has been a strict adherent of no-till agriculture, an environmentally friendly technique that all but eliminates plowing to curb erosion and the harmful runoff of fertilizers and pesticides.
On a recent afternoon here, Mr. Anderson watched as tractors crisscrossed a rolling field — plowing and mixing herbicides into the soil to kill weeds where soybeans will soon be planted.
Just as the heavy use of antibiotics contributed to the rise of drug-resistant supergerms, American farmers’ near-ubiquitous use of the weedkiller Roundup has led to the rapid growth of tenacious new superweeds.
To fight them, Mr. Anderson and farmers throughout the East, Midwest and South are being forced to spray fields with more toxic herbicides, pull weeds by hand and return to more labor-intensive methods like regular plowing.
“We’re back to where we were 20 years ago,” said Mr. Anderson, who will plow about one-third of his 3,000 acres of soybean fields this spring, more than he has in years. “We’re trying to find out what works.”
Farm experts say that such efforts could lead to higher food prices, lower crop yields, rising farm costs and more pollution of land and water.
[...] Pigweed can grow three inches a day and reach seven feet or more, choking out crops; it is so sturdy that it can damage harvesting equipment. In an attempt to kill the pest before it becomes that big, Mr. Anderson and his neighbors are plowing their fields and mixing herbicides into the soil.
That threatens to reverse one of the agricultural advances bolstered by the Roundup revolution: minimum-till farming. By combining Roundup and Roundup Ready crops, farmers did not have to plow under the weeds to control them. That reduced erosion, the runoff of chemicals into waterways and the use of fuel for tractors.
If frequent plowing becomes necessary again, “that is certainly a major concern for our environment,” Ken Smith, a weed scientist at the University of Arkansas, said. In addition, some critics of genetically engineered crops say that the use of extra herbicides, including some old ones that are less environmentally tolerable than Roundup, belies the claims made by the biotechnology industry that its crops would be better for the environment.
using round up ready crops also diminished micro-nutrient recycling done by deep rooted weeds that used to do that job. As a result, those nutrients have to be added at more expense.
And dont worry about super weeds folks - Monsanto will just create another product.
It really was only a matter of time. This reminds me of the glyphosate resistant (or in marketing speak, "roundup ready") strains of coca Wired magazine reported on a few years back:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/colu...
marijuana becomes that resistant?
Ooh! Ooh! I know! Continue to utterly fail at controlling its supply!
Making consumers pay the cost so profits can continue to go up!
didn't see this one coming from a mile away.
things Monsanto, starting with all food containing corn that is GMO. Or soybeans. Or sugar. Or cotton. Or wheat. Or... go look them up yourself.
"Life... finds a way."
Weeds don't like to be hemmed in. None of that "Roundup" stuff for them.
Monsanto will genetically modify US so that we eat all the resistant weeds and crude-oil laden seafood we like, as well as drink dioxin-flavoured water and breathe carbon-laced air.
At this point, having children without paying monsanto the license fee will be considered a violation of their genetic patents, and could lead to severe legal penalties.
you and I are only joking.
There are battles being waged to patent human genes. The reasoning being that the gene sequence responsible for X disease is required for Y technique to deal with or remove it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/business/30...
That such a debate ever started, let alone continues, is scary.
but, just wanted to remind, that they won't stop until they own the genome and any "modifications" they make and discover. THIS was just the beginning... now that the cat is out of the bag, it's only a matter of time before they buy off enough judges and they truly own the building blocks of life.
It's disgusting and goes so far beyond the pale that I would count it as one of the great follies in jurisprudence ever. That includes stuff like Plessy v Ferguson or Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company. When patenting life became legal, we were instantly a hop, skip and throw away from corporate ownership and licensing of the human genome.
Welcome to the Brave New World/Gattaca...
Might be good for some of us if they came and picked the kids up.
Will it take before we start regulating business? it is needed badly! Monsanto in florida got fox news to make a couple of its reporters stop reporting on some hormones they were giving cattle. I guess it must have been a corporate owned judge that ruled that fox had the right to lie to there viewers, that fox had no obligation to tell the viewers the truth. fair and balanced liars is what fox is!
...but it always comes roaring back again!" -Tom Waits
~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDjEDmgytOA
It is a study in chaos. It can do nothing else.
patents to expire. Doubtless, there is another Monsanto herbicide waiting in the wings that will kill weeds and which will require another round of genetically modified food crops. and with the USDA and FDA set to do Monsanto's bidding as regards global food labeling standards (where they are going to do their damndest to make it illegal to identify any food or ingredient as being of or derived from genetically modified sources), the entire world can look forward to another round of this bullshit.
Avoid all genetically modified foods, because - contrary to Monsanto's claims, the chemicals do not break down and are absorbed into every part of the plant, including it's seeds and fruits. Everytime you et a genetically modified food that is not certified organic, you are ingesting glyphosate(roundup). Of the 23 categories of health problems that toxicologists study, glyphosate is hitting all of them for effects from chrinic exposures. the only safe thing to do, is know what foods are genetically modified, per label disclosures and if there is any GM content, to assure that the product is 100% certified organic.
Over at onegoodmove and phryngula they discuss GMO's. Please take the time to educate yourselves about the science behind this topic.
Avoid it if you can!
And wouldn't it be nice if farmers stopped being bullied by these thugs and rolling over for these huge deep pocket corporations?
just make another batch of GMOs to deal with this. You guys act like this will become a serious problem. It won't happen because there is money to be made. All they have to do is make a different weedkiller.
It's the weedkiller, not the weeds, you should be worried about.
And you'll keep saying that until the weeds are ten feet high with roots twenty feet deep and crowd out every other plant on the planet. Then it'll be "gee, how could we know"?
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
a possibility when dealing with a GMO impact on the rest of the environment. Even an inevitability. RIGHT NOW the real, immediate threat that I see here is the new chemical they will bind to plants that we will consume.
I'm on your side Excelsior.
Monsanto = bastards.
They are reducing the genetic diversity of our foodstuffs (which ALWAYS has catastrophic consequences for populations dependent on particular crops for the majority of their nutrition -- e.g., Irish Potato famine). They accomplish this by buying out seed banks and advocating for the use of "terminator seeds" in agribusiness...
They bring lawsuits against growers whose corn was pollinated by nearby (or sometimes far away) Monsanto GM strains.
They are among a group of corporations who pursue patents on LIFE and seek to literally corner the market on "owning" genetic code and centralizing control of nature.
They have promoted and covered up the true implications of widespread use of bovine growth hormone.
Their chemical misconduct is so gross and well known it is almost an afterthought anymore compared to their multifaceted madness... They are truly the many tentacled corporate monster of our worst nightmares... Do not believe anything they say. Do not believe anything they say. Promises of higher yields and environmental progress are mirages. They are poisoning the earth.
just wait until the Monsanto mess hits. They are doing their best, and succeeding, in becoming a global force that owns and controls all seeds and feeds the world.
By the patent office's own regulations, they are not supposed to issue patents on any naturally occuring substance, but do so anywise. The whole patent thing is designed to give those with money and power even more advantages than they already enjoy, and do it at everybody else's expense.
Since the bush admin changed the definition of what constitutes "Organic food" such things as SOY are now by & large Monsanto INFECTED products and ARE NOT by any stretch of the imagination "organic". Buy local organic from the nearest organic farm. AVOID buying your produce in national chain markets! Better yet, GROW as much of your own produce as possible!
Yes, most of the time that is true. However, people should have their soil tested given the possibility of lead (and other) contamination. At least if you live in an urban center or aren't sure what has gone on with your particular patch of soil...
Otherwise, local organic produce from independent farmers markets is your best bet. Or, if you have an organic farm nearby, many of them sell their produce directly to the public (sometimes only one day a week though).
receiving the "Certified Organic" label from the USDA. If a manufacturer says that it costs too much to use only purely organic food in their products, then they don't have to do so. They still get the certification. Sweet. They don't have to prove it, just state it. You have to research to find out which companies are really giving you organic food. Many of the ones that used to do that have sold out to Kellogg, et al. Kashi, Tom's of Maine, Ben and Jerry's, etc. More than you think. Celestial Seasonings. Use the Google.
Singh - Farms (if you are lucky enough to have places like them nearby)
market, as she knows anything she buys in it will probably poison her family. I'm not kidding. She tries to preserve food, and she buys from organic farmers, and orders fish from Alaska. But sometimes, especially during the winter, you just have to go to a market and chance the corporate food. I just cut out one meal a day, and just keep reading instead of eating.
chance the corporate food. Either because they don't have the money to buy organic, they can't get to a place where enough is sold, or because they have to rely on a particular diet for medical reasons. Or all of those things.
Hearing that your friend has a tendency to cry over this and takes extreme measures is a little disconcerting though.
She should "take the rag away from her face / now ain't the time for her tears."
Honestly, the gunk in the air she breathes is probably poisoning her family just as much, if not more, than any of the corporate food bought at the grocery store.
Not that I think agribusiness isn't poisoning us. I just think there are several more dangerous/harmful things out there than the chemicals and assorted crap found in our food supply.
Okay, those things might only be *slightly* more dangerous than our love of frankenfoods and preservatives, but they are more dangerous nonetheless...
So, when she looks up at a brown cloud over her city (if she lives in an urban area), or considers how that brown cloud somehow winds up in the water supply (and therefore the plants, animals, etc.) regardless of how far she lives from an urban center, just tell her to "bury the rag most deep in your face, for now is the time for your tears"... ;P
Man, why did somebody have to mention Bobby? Now I won't be able to stop...
Just Build the Nuclear Power Plants!!
We'll figure out what to do with highly toxic long-lived waste later!
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
The hysteria here is worse than I thought. Please go to onegoodmove and check out some of the GMO blog entries.
Care for a pigweed cookie and a cup of Round-Up?
I went to the site you recommended. I guess it's just the fault of the farmers for not spraying properly. Thanks for pointing that out.
onegoodmove is on the blogroll here at C&L, it's a good resource
Seeds of Deception
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/GMFree/TakeAc...
About GMO foods!
In an attempt to kill the pest before it becomes that big, Mr. Anderson and his neighbors are plowing their fields and mixing herbicides into the soil.
So they're just going to go merrily ahead and keep making the problem worse. *eyeroll*
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
all other crops. The question becomes, "Can we eat pigweed?" Adding more herbicides is not the answer. Hand weeding--cut unemployment and fix this. Win-win.
Hand weeding--cut unemployment and fix this. Win-win.
Now let's see - who would be willing to do this kind of back-breaking work for the miniscule pittance that Monsanto will be willing to pay?
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1tfIKUZ0fY
from Wikipedia:
Also, because of its deep roots, Pigweed helps break up clay type soils and draws nutrients from deep below the surface.
>
I've been taught for the last 20 years by the conservative media that evolution is just a theory. This clearly shows evolution in action, when it can't be possible. Religious Zealots can't be wrong! (But I do hope they are the first ones to pay for their higher priced foods =) )
Dear Mr. or Ms. Focus-on-the-Family, Bush-lovin', militia-lovin' farmer (which is absolutely not to say all farmers by a long shot),
Given your categorical denial of evolution, juxtaposed with the immanent fact of newly Roundup-resistant weeds, I take it you are saddened to learn that god wants the weeds to win and is empowering them to do just that. Please report to your place of worship to educate yourself as to which of your venial sins has brought this plague upon your house.
Yours,
Fundamentalism
TO buy their seeds and have made it ileagal to save the seeds from their crops like they have for thousands of years. Just one more reason people in particular poor people around the world hate America.
The seeds are the only dirty deal that has been done in our name. Or by corporations under the American flag while at the same time depriving their home country of benefits of jobs and taxes.
Screw the whole bunch of them.
You mean "the seeds AREN'T the only dirty deal", right?
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
sorry
Iraq.
once again profits trump common sense and good planning.
That's what you get when you run a society on money and nothing else.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
That sometimes money trumps peace!
So what can you expect from a whole group of people that have the same beliefs, the same goals, the same lack of morals and ethic's and a lack of empathy with any other living creatures?
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness it have killed the economy and I don't know if there is any accurate ways to count the dead and wounded brought about by the greed that rules all aspects of their lives!
differ. We'll see who's right. Probably really soon.
no one ever saw that shit coming. Except scientists and the people who listen to them.
me-oww!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NO8lnC7u3w
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
If you were hoping that there might be some change in the United States government’s official position on genetically modified and genetically engineered (GM/GE) foods under an Obama administration, tough luck.
Last month there was the appointment of big-time GM/GE advocate (and former Monsanto lobbyist) Islam Siddiqui as the country’s chief agricultural negotiator. Now comes a position paper from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that opposes labeling for genetically modified food. The U.S. claims that letting consumers know whether or not GM/GE products are contained in food is “false, misleading, or deceptive...” http://politicsoftheplate.com/?p=377
.
deputy FDA commissioner (ex-Monsanto lawyer) Obama-appointee Michael Taylor, think instead to contact your elected representatives, who actually have reason to care what you think of them.
As to antibacterials and pesticides altering over time to survive, this is call evolution.
Same can be said for vaccines.
Monsanto is right at the top.
but the same thing happens to every pesticide, herbicide, anti-biotic and anti-viral compound. You see there is this thing called evolution. Nothing is one hundred percent effective and the survivors are always resistant.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
the drastic decline of honeybees worldwide these last 3-4 yrears , you know those little critters that give us LIFE .
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
katrina-wall street gangster bailouts-a seriously dumbed down electorate- total press censorship-offshore oil catastrophe-franken seeds-whore for hire system of government-american quaity of life hoovering around #30 - absolutley insane military spending - endless war - highest prison population in the world - 60 million in poverty....I could go on and on. Get the picture??? You better get your psychopathetic ruling elites under control or you crazies will drag the whole world down. Why not start with a 2nd political party to fight the Corporate Parties two wings. Our creator spread the easily manipulated whack jobs equaly everywhere but in america your elites have mastered how to use them to keep the status quo bubbling along. Bob was right when he said "Dont follow leaders, dont pay parking meters"
pump dont work b/c
vandle stole the handle
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLePij0Uszw
Burn the land and kill the weeds. Field fires are as old as man and they work.
Apparently, periodic natural fires thin out overly dense (and sometimes diseased) forests. It's only human development and overzealous fire-fighting efforts that are turning our Western forests into giant tinderboxes which can't be put out when they inevitably DO catch fire.
The key is allowing natural processes to do their thing, then when fires start and we actually NEED to put them out, surprise surprise! we're able to do it (as opposed to the monster fires we've seen recently given climate change, bark beetle epidemics and a forest service that just loves to fight fires despite their own ecological findings that doing so is generally detrimental to their finely tuned ecosystems which just so happen to be adapted for periodic fires... imagine that!).
When will humans grasp that nature had answers to all of these problems loooooong before we were here? If we worked more about finding ways to live in harmony and actually using natural balance to our advantage (but not overly exploiting it for every last damn drop of benefit to us at the expense of nature), well... we might actually have a shot at lasting another thousand years =/
http://www.mpcer.nau.edu/tontorim/wildfire.html
but it will not necessarily kill either the weed seeds or the weed roots.
But there is another solution -- one that was used until it's being made illegal in the 1930's, and then re-legalized temporarily during World War II as a war-time essential crop -- industrial hemp.
Regular cash crops can be rotated with industrial hemp, which is grown densely and will outgrow nearly every type of noxious weed, effectively starving them of sunlight. Rope, paper, newsprint, clothing, and even eco-friendly construction materials can be created from industrial hemp, as they have been in the distant past.
Check out Jack Herer's informative book "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" at the following website: [www.jackherer.com/chapters.html] OR look for the printed book which includes full references that the on-line edition excludes.
Title: The Emperor Wears No Clothes
Author: Jack Herer
Publisher: Quick American Archives, paperback 11th edition, 330 pages
ISBN: 1878125028
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-- John F. Kennedy
that is to say, the top candidates for the four most evil corporations in existence today would have to be: Rupert Murdock's News Corporation, Goldman-Sachs, the International Monetary Fund, and Monsanto. And not necessarily in that particular order of dominance. I will grant you that there are others, far too many others, but none with quite as much negative impact upon such a large segment of humanity.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-- John F. Kennedy
monsanto has 90% of the soybean market
and 70% of the corn market.
I didn't even know i was eating gmo foods.
how did this happen.
considering soy and corn is in everything-how can you even begin to avoid it.
jeesh--we are screwed
...I can only speak for my region but I am very thankful for the local food community in central and northern MN. Because of its latitude it only produces during half of the year but it is a start in removing the dependence on large-scale agribusiness. It is no coincidence that you don't find C2 corn, wheat, or soy at your local farmer's market or in your CSA basket.
In my experience it isn't that hard to avoid it, you just need to have commitment. I recognize that I am blessed and privileged to be in a situation were I can choose to resist corn, soy, and wheat but as a broke college student it is not like I am an economic exception to the majority of Americans. It may not socially be the norm but if people truly make it a priority it is certainly not one of the harder things in life to commit to. :)
LOL - You have NO idea what your local farmer does to his/her crop. You have NO idea what he/she puts on their crop or in their soil. Simply because you buy stuff at a local farmer's market doesn't mean it is either better for you or safer.
Unless you have taken the time to visit the farm and see how they grow the vegetables, fruits and grains that you buy from them. The peach borer, for instance, is a nasty pest that destroys peach trees. The cure for that is a persistent poison you put in the soil around the peach tree. Do you know if that poison reaches the peaches through the roots of the peach tree? I don't.
LOL - you have been eating GMO foods for many many years. More years than you realize.
Wow. Just wow. I am stunned. You people sound like creationists, global warming deniers, and anti-vaxxers.
Luckily a good resource for information is available for free online from the National Research Council.
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=128...
There are issues with GMO's but they certainly are not evil.
Let's leave the anti-science hyperbole to the right wing idiots, please. I want for my fellow liberals to be smart, rational people. It very much saddens me when my fellow liberals allow their biases to get in the way of rationality. Especially when we harp on about right winger craziness.
Maybe C&L should consider getting a science section with a scientist blogger. We could laugh at the silly right wingers for being anti-science idiots and we can help dispel some of the misinformation that liberals and progressives tend to jump on.
is that it seems some are surprised that Nature adapts. The only way that this Roundup stuff would work is if it eradicated every plant it came in contact with (since, as a pesticide, it has no idea or control over how it is used), which would clearly defeat its purpose.
Instead, some 'weeds' manage to survive, which means that this immunity trait is passed on to other weeds.
And so on, and so on.
As a result we end up with a 'super weed,' immune, or at the very least, extremely resistant to Roundup.
more kinds of fun cancer?!?
OOOO I DO I DO... oh .... wait.
This article makes claim after claim but provides NO scientific evidence whatsoever. Where's the science? Where is the peer-reviewed study that confirms what the author is claiming? One scientist is quoted but he does NOT confirm the claim. He says "IF....". Other than that, "critics" are paraphrased. There are NO facts in this article at all. Just anecdote.
And the NYT article makes no claims that agriculture is devastated by resistant weeds. In fact, it too contains no scientific evidence that agriculture is doomed by Monsanto's Round Up. What it DOES say is that a cocktail may be necessary to thwart some of these weeds. But, then, we've seen that in medical science too. Any of you want to give up on cocktails that cure resistant cancers? Or bacterial infections? There is always going to be a constant war between the weeds and the farmers. I don't care WHAT method you use to farm, "organic", "chemical" or some mix. You will constantly be fighting the bugs and the weeds.
They'll just patent pigweed and then sue every farm where they find it.
It's much easier trying to work with nature than trying to work against it. Stronger an stronger poison? I don't think so. We need to stop their lunacy now. How about thinking outside the box. Let's say we find chickens (or geese) that just love pigweed (most love weeds in general) but doesn't like soybeans (or spray something natural could be sprayed on the soybeans to deter the chickens). Now let loose thousands of chickens in the fields to free range. They would eat the weeds and as a bonus the bugs too!!!!!!!!! Now I call that a win win situation. We get healthy free range chickens, no pesticide in our food or environment. Yea!!!
Comments are closed on this entry