Nearly Half of All US Farms Now Have Superweeds

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/02/report-spread-monsantos-superweeds-speeds-12-0

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Nearly Half of All US Farms Now Have Superweeds[/font]

—By Tom Philpott | Wed Feb. 6, 2013 3:06 AM PST

[font size=3]Last year's drought took a big bite out of the two most prodigious US crops, corn and soy. But it apparently didn't slow down the spread of weeds that have developed resistance to Monsanto's herbicide Roundup (glyphosate), used on crops engineered by Monsanto to resist it. More than 70 percent of all the the corn, soy, and cotton grown in the US is now genetically modified to withstand glyphosate.

Back in 2011, such weeds were already spreading fast. "Monsanto's 'Superweeds' Gallop Through Midwest," declared the headline of a post I wrote then. What's the word you use when an already-galloping horse speeds up? Because that's what's happening. Let's try this: "Monsanto's 'Superweeds' Stampede Through Midwest."

That pretty much describes the situation last year, according to a new report from the agribusiness research consultancy Stratus. Since the 2010 growing season, the group has been polling "thousands of US farmers" across 31 states about herbicide resistance. Here's what they found in the 2012 season:

• Nearly half (49%) of all US farmers we surveyed said they have glyphosate resistant weeds on their farm in 2012, up from 34% of farmers in 2011.

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[bettyellen]

1. Why bother with roundup ready crops then?

Wishing they could sue Monsanto over this...

[happyslug]

3. Two comments caught my attention

So where do farmers go from here? Well, Monsanto and its peers would like them to try out "next generation" herbicide-resistant seeds—that is, crops engineered to resist not just Roundup, but also other, more toxic herbicides, like 2,4-D and .

“If you can catch the resistant weeds early enough, paraquat does a good job of controlling them. But once Palmer amaranth [a common glyphosate-tolerant weed] gets 6 ft. tall, you can't put on enough paraquat to kill it," [one weed-control expert] says.

http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/02/report-spread-monsantos-superweeds-speeds-12-0

Comment on 2-4-D. 2-4-D is much older then Round up (Early 1940 development) and is known NOT to go to the ROOTS of any plant (Thus useless if you want to use it against Knotweed, a problem is my area). 2-4-D is known as a "Selective Herbicide" for it does NOT work on grasses, just broad leaf weeds and given most grains are derived from grasses liked among wheat and other farmers.


2-4-D is also known to have health affect on animals exposes to it, health affect NOT seen if animals are exposed to Round up (2-4-D was a major herbicide in Vietnam Era "Agent Orange" for example, through most of Agent Orange bad affects was tied is with 2,4,5 T a near relative compound and even then a defect in how it was made for Agent Orange so that Dioxins were part of the 2,4,5 T herbicide).

More on 2-4-D:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic_acid

More on Paraquat the #1 herbicide used in the world:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraquat

More on Dicamba, a "Replacement" for Roundup:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicamba

[Buzz Clik]

5. +1

[bettyellen]

10. so, layer on more chemicals? ones Roundup was designed to replace? WTF, why not just dump Roundup?

[happyslug]

11. What do you perfer, go back to hoeing?

In the days of old, pre-chemicals, the farmers and their family went out in the fields with "Hoes" and took out the weeds by HAND. We may HAVE to go back to it, but these large corporate farms will try everything else first.

[phantom power]

2. ....

[hatrack]

8. Gosh, who could have predicted thi . . . . oh, never mind!

[Buzz Clik]

4. Quite predictable. And a bummer.

Roundup is a good herbicide when used in moderation. It will become useless for a while, maybe forever. Not unlike DDT in this country -- when you use as a universal pesticide, resistance emerges.

[tama]

6. Go Weed! :)

[wtmusic]

7. Nothing a little meta-herbicide can't fix. nt

[drm604]

9. Easily predictable.

Monsanto had to know this would happen.

And guess what? they have a new product ready to go to remedy this! Isn't that a lucky happenstance?

They're probably already working on the next next product to sell when the next product no longer works.