Jason Hamlin, a certified crop adviser and agronomist, looks for weeds resistant to glyphosate in Dyersburg, Tenn.
Jason Hamlin, a certified crop adviser and agronomist, looks for weeds resistant to glyphosate in Dyersburg, Tenn.
Another “scare with science” episode brought to you by the NY Times.
Many herbicides are over used some much more dangerous than Roundup.
What I don't grasp is the implication that Monsanto has caused a problem somewhere in all this.
I love weeds in my lawn. They stay green during droughts, don’t grow terribly high it sure is nice to not have to waste time and money dumping fertilizer and watering grass.
hmmm....ever notice how every time a Science Scare story runs in the New York Times there is always a BIG EEEVIL CORPORATION to blame?
Ping... Fact or FUD
“
But farmers sprayed so much Roundup that weeds quickly evolved to survive
it. “What we’re talking about here is Darwinian evolution in fast-forward,”...
“
Sounds like the laws of evolution haven’t been suspended.
This sounds just like a plant-involved version of the selective pressure
of antibiotics causing the emergence of “super bugs”.
If Monsanto committed a sin over Roundup, it was a bit of hubris in
understating any “unintended consequences”; e.g., if farmers overused
Roundup, the selective pressure would winnow the weeds and promote
some that are resistant to Roundup/glyphosate.
(Reminiscent of the BP exec. that said the likelihood of a severe problem
with the Transocean rig they were renting were small!)
Oh, and Monsanto should have been even more busy developing new compounds
to increase the farmers’ toolbox for dealing with weeds.
Because it was a virtual certainty that the selective pressure of
Roundup would necessitate the need for even more technology to control
the “super weeds” bound to emerge.
(and Monsanto has paid the price for not being proactive in getting
new compounds to market)
thanks for posting the story...
OVERUSE/MISUSE antibiotics, Roundup, and any other miracle compound
(and yes, they are relatively speaking, miracle compounds)...
and selective pressure will result in “unintended consequences”.
E.g., superbugs or superweeds
Up here in the high desert there are many native weeds that lap Roundup like it is nectar of the gods. They will actually grow from the water in the Roundup mixture. The only way to kill some with Roundup is to put it on full strength. I suspect that is like pouring used motor oil on - it just smothers them.
This is a kind of misrepresentation. If a plant survives application of the herbicide, its resistant properties already exist. They do not evolve.
And yet, in spite of the doom and gloom from the NYT, it looks like the American Farmer is going to produce the largest crop of corn and soybeans ever seen on earth.
See tagline.
Some farms use steam to kill them.
Soybeans, corn and cotton that are engineered to survive spraying with Roundup have become standard in American fields. However, if Roundup doesn't kill the weeds, farmers have little incentive to spend the extra money for the special seeds.It's called staying one step ahead. Geez. I've been seeing a lot of whining and incoherent paranoid squawking about Monsanto over this stupid non-issue. One farmer I know very well has been using this combo for years already, and it has continued to work, and his fields are beautiful.