Monsanto Has A Solution To Resistant Superweeds - More Herbicides; Lawsuits Piling Up
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In their effort to beat back the profit-choking weed epidemic, some farmers planting the new genetically engineered seeds decided to roll the dice and illegally spray those crops with an outdated formulation of dicamba notorious for drifting onto neighboring crops. In Missouri alone, spray drift from illegal dicamba use on soybean fields has damaged more than 40,000 acres of other crops, including peaches, tomatoes, alfalfa, cantaloupes, watermelons, rice, peas, peanuts and alfalfa.
Last month, Missouri’s largest peach producer filed a lawsuit claiming Monsanto should be held responsible for the loss of 30,000 peach trees resulting in financial losses exceeding $1 million. The producer alleges the damages were caused by illegal spraying that was a predictable consequence of Monsanto’s decision to release its dicamba-resistant seeds prior to availability of a compatible form of dicamba.
Monsanto says it was only making the new seeds available as quickly as possible and can’t be blamed for the actions of individual farmers. The chemical giant has a harder time dodging responsibility for the rise of the superweed epidemic that created the need for the new herbicides. For years Monsanto officials assured farmers that weeds would never develop resistance to the company’s flagship herbicide, glyphosate, so farmers were urged to apply it liberally year after year because “dead weeds don’t produce seeds.”
And apply it they did, with annual U.S. glyphosate use soaring to over 300 million pounds — an escalation that quickly accelerated the evolution of glyphosate-resistant superweeds that can grow an inch a day to heights of 10 feet and break farm equipment. Now major herbicide pushers are offering a familiar-sounding “solution”: more herbicides.
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http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/the-ever-darkening-shadow-of-monsanto-fueled-superweeds/article_d76e8918-8125-564d-9983-c4d0bf268919.html
