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The ever-darkening shadow of Monsanto-fueled superweeds

Donley, Nathan
http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/the-ever-darkening-shadow-of-monsanto-fueled-superweeds/article_d76e8918-8125-564d-9983-c4d0bf268919.html

Publisher:  St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Date Written:  25/01/2017
Year Published:  2017  
Resource Type:  Article

Investigating the agricultural impacts of use of Monsanto's herbicides, which has led to rapid development of herbicide-resistant weeds which pose difficulties for farmers and lead to further dependence on new herbicides.

Abstract: 

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Excerpts:

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farmers planting the new genetically engineered seeds decided to roll the dice and illegally spray those crops with an outdated formulation of dicamba notorious for drifting onto neighboring crops.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.

...

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.

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