First Superbugs, Now Superweeds

Slashdot ^ | 5/8/10 | Soulskill

[Clint Williams]

Finxray writes

"Years of heavy use of the broad spectrum herbicide Roundup has led to the rapid growth of superweeds. They are spreading throughout North America, creating headaches for farmers and posing 'the single largest threat to production agriculture that we have ever seen,' according to Andrew Wargo III, the president of the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts. From the article: 'The first resistant species to pose a serious threat to agriculture was spotted in a Delaware soybean field in 2000. Since then, the problem has spread, with 10 resistant species in at least 22 states infesting millions of acres, predominantly soybeans, cotton and corn. The superweeds could temper American agriculture’s enthusiasm for some genetically modified crops. 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."

[Carry_Okie]

By the time you cultivate the crop is doing a fine job holding the soil in place, and it’s a whole lot easier on everything to turn the soil over a couple of times a year than it is to dump chemicals on it.

Try that process on our property and you'll have half the hillside in the creek along with one huge chunk of iron the following winter (it's too steep for a tractor).

[EternalVigilance]

Terrace.

[EternalVigilance]

Just look at all that flat ground! :-)

[Carry_Okie]

Too steep and unstable for terraces, over 100% slopes in soft silt stone with no rock for construction of retaining walls.

Besides, that's not the goal here.

[hinckley buzzard]

I have a crop of superdandelions in my yard this year. I wondered where they all came from all of a sudden.

[runninglips]

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.

This is the crux of the matter. Farmers may begin to spend less money on GM seeds, destroying the budgets of the pharmaceutical companies heavily invested in them. Roundup has been toned down, it is now "safer"

[Rodamala]

No Herbicide Required:
(picture linked to video)