Roundup Resistant Superweeds March Throughout the U.S.

I’ve now seen two articles in the last week about weeds that are resistant to Roundup from Monsanto. In case you forgot, about 20 years ago Monsanto introduced Roundup Ready seeds and herbicides. Roundup Ready seeds were genetically modified to have an immunity to Roundup, an herbicide. Farmers could then use Roundup on their crops and not destroy valuable food crops. 90 percent of the nation’s soybeans and 70 to 80 percent of our corn and cotton are Roundup Ready crops. Farmers started to see Roundup resistant weeds about 10 years ago, and now they are becoming epidemic. To deal with this emerging problem, other chemical companies such as Dupont, Dow, Bayer, Basf, and Sygenta are working to develop other modified soybean, corn, and cotton seeds that can survive a dousing of older herbicides. In the article “Superweed Outbreak Triggers Arms Race” in the June 4 issue of the Wall Street Journal John Jachetta, a scientist at Dow Chemical’s Dow AgroSciences and President of the Weed Science Society of America was quoted as saying “It will be a very significant opportunity” for chemical companies. “It is a new era.”  You really need to read this article.