Roundup's potency slips, foils farmers

Roundup's potency slips, foils farmers

   I love this bit:

"'There is no question glyphosate is a once-in-a-century herbicide,' said Kevin Bradley, a weed scientist with the University of Missouri who conducted the giant ragweed survey. 'The problem is that glyphosate has been so good that farmers have gotten spoiled a little bit ... We can't continue to abuse the system, which is just using Roundup Ready soybeans and spraying glyphosate over and over and over.'

"Monsanto, and the farmers who use its products, stress that glyphosate is still an effective product, one that controls more than 300 weeds. But the company acknowledges that it may have underestimated how long it would take for weeds to become resistant to the chemical and that it should have educated farmers sooner about the issue."

   ...and...

"Some farmers say they are turning to conventional varieties of herbicides because they are unwilling to pay a higher price for a Roundup system that isn't working as it once did. But some younger farmers have never farmed any other way."

   All of this mono-cropping, chemical farming was supposed to insure food supply stability. Now it's just proving that there are no guarantees and that diversity and local food systems may actually be the more secure food system.

[read the whole article]