Crop Damage from Illegal herbicide used on MOnsanto' Xtend soy- Dicamba drift killed farmers crops -

[womanofthehills]

"If the EPA doesn't do something, that means every farmer needs to buy Xtend to protect themselves from their neighbor," Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Jonas Oxgaard told Bloomberg."

The EPA has collected similar reports of crop damage from 10 states: Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Missouri appears to have suffered the most. According to the Southeast Missourian, the state's department of agriculture has received 125 complaints of dicamba damage on more than 40,000 crop acres.
Missouri farmers have reported damage on a number of crops including peaches, tomatoes, cantaloupes, watermelons, rice, cotton, peas, peanuts, alfalfa and soybeans, the EPA said.


However, some farmers feel they have no choice but to buy Monsanto's dicamba-tolerant crops just to protect their crops from drift. As Bloomberg described:
For folks like Landon Hayes, who grows earlier-generation soybeans in Campbell, Missouri, the consequences have been costly. He says 500 acres of his crops were damaged this summer by stray wisps of dicamba. And now he feels compelled to buy the engineered Monsanto seeds to avoid injury next season.

"They knew that people would buy it just to protect themselves," Hayes says. "You're pretty well going to have to. It's a good marketing strategy, I guess. It kind of sucks for us."

"They knew that people would buy it just to protect themselves," Hayes says. "You're pretty well going to have to. It's a good marketing strategy, I guess. It kind of sucks for us."

http://www.alternet.org/food/10-states-report-crop-damage-illegal-herbicide-use-monsantos-gmo-seeds

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. I am sure that the "drift" was just an accident

and the fact that Monsanto has a solution on hand is just a co-incidence.

[womanofthehills]

6. Drift is in the nature of Dicamba

[Buzz Clik]

2. Amazing how the blame always trickles down to EPA and Monsanto...

.... when it's the bad behavior of the farmers creating the problem.

[womanofthehills]

4. Monsanto is to blame - by releasing X-tend before the herbicide was approved

So they sell X-tend seeds this year and say it works with Dicamba but the Dicamba that goes with the seed has not been approved yet.
Monsanto knows if farmer's are going to plant it, they will have to use the older Dicamba. That's bad.

Farmers Reportedly Spraying Older Version of Dicamba, Drift Killing Crops

Some also question what they say is Monsanto's premature launch of new biotech soybeans, without the green light for the accompanying herbicide. Grain traders earlier this year also protested because Monsanto marketed the soybeans before receiving import approval from the European Union. The EU approved the soybeans last month.

A spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency said the agency is investigating dicamba misuse and crop damage in the region, and that its findings would "inform" its final decision on approving Monsanto's new version of the herbicide, expected late summer or early fall of this year.

http://aginfotoday.com/News/Farmers-Reportedly-Spraying-Older-Version-of-Dicamba-Drift-Killing-Crops-2016-08-02/15099

[immoderate]

8. LOL. What's your solution?

--imm

[Buzz Clik]

9. Gee -- maybe if the farmers followed the labels on their chemicals....

The label is a legal document, not a general guideline. Using dicamba on soybeans is not according to label and TOTALLY the fault of the farmers.

[immoderate]

10. But apparently they don't (or can't.) So now what?

--imm

[Buzz Clik]

11. What is your solution?

[womanofthehills]

12. What were the farmers supposed to use on X-tend? It 's made to work with Dicamba.

why did Monsanto sell them the seeds?

[Buzz Clik]

13. your lack of knowledge on this subject is not my responsibility.

You guys come in breathing fire and filled with outrage but have no idea what is going on.

[womanofthehills]

15. There is no lack of knowledge - It's so obvious what is going on

One of the worst parts of this whole debacle is that farmers -- by being forced to grow dicamba resistant GMO soybeans -- are losing the choice of what they can grow. Ironically, Missouri passed a "Right to Farm" measure in 2014 that protects farmers' right to grow what they want. Now, the rich agricultural diversity of southern Missouri could turn into an industrial monoculture of GMOs and toxic herbicides.

"If this keeps up, 'right to farm' will become more like the right to farm dicamba tolerant crops," McBroom said. "Neighbors are determining what the people around them can and can't grow. When you start taking options away from farmers, you start taking away opportunities."

http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/illegal-herbicide-use-on-gmo-crops-causing-massive-damage-to-fruit-vegetable-and-soybean-farms

Dicamba even drifted into the yards of people who are not farmers, killing everything in their yards.

[PatSeg]

16. So, you know why

but aren't going to tell? Or you don't know why Monsanto sold those seeds before the herbicide specifically designed to go with the seeds received federal approval. It sounds pretty irresponsible to me.

[PatSeg]

3. Why on earth did Monsanto sell

the Roundup Ready Xtend seeds to farmers before the herbicide specifically designed to go with the seeds was federally approved? That certainly appears to make them complicit in the problem.

[womanofthehills]

5. Agreed and Dicamba is more toxic than glyphosate & glyphosate is not working

Why did Monsanto develop dicamba-tolerant soybeans?

In short, because of the over-reliance on glyphosate-tolerant crops. Roughly 80 percent of the 120 million acres of GMO crops globally are glyphosate-tolerant varieties, and the constant spraying has led to naturally-evolved resistance to the herbicide in many weed species—so-called “super weeds.” In the US, where approximately 90 percent or more of all cotton, soy, and corn plantings are of glyphosate-tolerant GMO varieties, the acres of farmland harboring glyphosate-resistant weeds nearly doubled between 2010 and 2012, from 32.6 million acres to 61.2 million acres.

Monsanto has been working for years to develop dicamba-tolerant crops by inserting genes from soil bacteria. The first of these crops, Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans and cotton (these varieties are also glyphosate-tolerant), were approved for commercial planting in the US earlier this year, giving farmers another weapon to control weeds.

http://modernfarmer.com/2016/08/dicamba/

[PatSeg]

7. We've been through this over the years

with pesticides and herbicides. What ever they are designed to kill, becomes resistant to the chemicals, but meanwhile other lifeforms are being harmed - birds, bees, humans...............

[Buzz Clik]

14. ... And it is so easy to feed the world without pesticides.

So what's the deal?

[womanofthehills]

17. Russia plans on doing it - any many other countries too - Denmark wants to become 100% organic

but we have an EPA in bed with Monsanto.

Russia Wants to Be World's Top Exporter of Non-GMO Food

In a speech given to Russian Parliament last week, President Vladimir Putin announced his intention to be the world's biggest supplier of "ecologically clean and high-quality food" and criticized GMO food production in western countries even though demand for organic food has soared exponentially in recent years.

"We are not only able to feed ourselves taking into account our lands, water resources—Russia is able to become the largest world supplier of healthy, ecologically clean and high-quality food which the Western producers have long lost, especially given the fact that demand for such products in the world market is steadily growing," he said.

Putin also said that in the last decade, Russia has gone from importing half of its food to becoming a net exporter. Putin claims that Russia now makes more money from selling food than from selling weapons and fuel.
http://www.ecowatch.com/russia-wants-to-be-worlds-top-exporter-of-non-gmo-food-1882129174.html

Will Denmark Become the World's First 100% Organic Country?

Danish consumers are the most pro-organic consumers in the world, according to Organic Denmark, an association of companies, organic farmers and consumers. Nearly 8 percent of all food sold in Denmark is organic, the highest percentage in Europe. And Danish organic export has risen by more than 200 percent since 2007.

The Danish government is working on drastically increasing the nation's supply of organic food. Last year, The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries released an ambitious plan to double the area under organic cultivation by 2020 from 2007 levels.

http://www.ecowatch.com/will-denmark-become-the-worlds-first-100-organic-country-1882162562.html

[MohRokTah]

18. I'd buy into this if you had a reliable source. eom

[womanofthehills]

19. OK -how about Bloomberg News - however, if you search dicamba and farmers you will see lots of sites

Monsanto Seeds Unleash Unintended Consequences Across U.S. Farms

The problem may get worse as Monsanto aims to increase sales of Xtend soybeans 50-fold in the next few years. “If the EPA doesn’t do something, that means every farmer needs to buy Xtend to protect themselves from their neighbor,” says Jonas Oxgaard, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Soybean and cotton farmers can buy Xtend to fend off dicamba, but growers of fruit, vegetable and other such crops don’t have that option, says Steve Smith, the agriculture director at Red Gold, the world’s largest closely held canned-tomato processor and chairman of the Save Our Crops Coalition. The group is petitioning the EPA to classify the coming products from Monsanto and BASF as “restricted use status,” which would require they be dispensed by certified pesticide applicators.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-01/a-soybean-killing-pesticide-spreads-across-america-s-farm-belt

From AG WEB - powered by Farm Journal

Dicamba Drift Stirs Pot of Farm Trouble

“Chemical companies should not put folks on the honor system,” Storey says. “Did Monsanto really believe all farmers would be honest? It’s tough for me to believe they didn’t see this abuse coming.”

http://www.agweb.com/article/dicamba-drift-stirs-pot-of-farm-trouble-naa-chris-bennett/