
Herbicide-resistant superweeds overpowering crops - codedivine
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/10/07/technology-superweeds-roundup-ready.html
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noonespecial
You mean the company that patents crops _(1)_ , locks them away from farmers
_(2)_ , and then files drive-by lawsuits wherever their seed drifts _(3)_ is
having trouble with mutant weeds? Say it ain't so.

Looks like mother nature had prior art, and boy is she pissed.

(1) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto>

(2) [http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/saved-seed-farmer-
la...](http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/saved-seed-farmer-
lawsuits.aspx)

(3) [http://current.com/technology/89264825_california-
legislatur...](http://current.com/technology/89264825_california-legislature-
passes-bill-protecting-farmers-against-monsanto-lawsuits.htm)

~~~
maratd
Very snippy and all quite possibly true. Nevertheless, Monsanto has had a huge
_positive_ impact on agriculture all across the world. Nobody puts a gun to
the head of the farmers. They _choose_ to buy Monsanto because of higher
yields. Higher yields bring in more revenue to the farmers and reduce prices
worldwide, at the same time. Lower prices = fewer people starving.

~~~
rmason
I spent twenty years as an agronomist. Herbicide resistant weeds are not new,
we had them before Roundup was as widely used. Most university scientists
predicted Roundup resistant weeds before Roundup resistant crops were grown
outside the lab.

Monsanto isn't the only company to sell GM seed resistant to herbicides. But
they were the first and are still by far the largest. There is a hatred of
them similar to how the software industry feels about say Microsoft.

Genetically modified seed is the single biggest advance in agriculture in the
past fifty years. Do you have any idea of how many millions of pounds of
insecticides aren't sprayed anymore? Roundup is also both cheaper and safer
than a lot of the previous alternatives. Yet there is still strong opposition
to GM seed and Monsanto, especially in the press.

Farmers and the fertilizer people who do a lot of the spraying live in the
community. Having been a part of that fraternity I can guarantee you they
aren't going to do anything to pollute their world or ship a product they
wouldn't let their own family consume. But I guess you're going to have to
take my word on that one.

There is seed ready to be marketed that is resistant not only to Roundup but
two other herbicides with different modes of action. That is a fact the
article does not mention. It won't solve the problem entirely, but will make
Mother Nature work a lot harder to defeat it.

~~~
VladRussian
>Farmers and the fertilizer people who do a lot of the spraying live in the
community. Having been a part of that fraternity I can guarantee you they
aren't going to do anything to pollute their world or ship a product they
wouldn't let their own family consume.

how idyllic. I guess it is some other, bad-bad-bad, farmers and fertilizer
people who did all this agricultural damage to the nature.

~~~
dalke
Following on to that, farm runoff is a widely known source of contaminates to
rivers and lakes. It's a non-point-source pollution, and the EPA says
"agriculture, including crop production, animal operations, pastures, and
rangeland, impacts 18% of the total river and stream miles assessed, or 48% of
the river and streams identified as impaired". Agribusiness has generally been
against increased restrictions on non-point source pollution.

There are solutions, but most are expensive and with no immediate local gain.
Farmers, like everyone, balance risk, time, and money. In this case the risk
is literally downstream and several years or decades in the future. To follow
the original metaphor, it's someone else's problem in a different world.

It's easy to see how a distant risk might not be considered worth minimizing.

The common solutions to that are laws and financial incentives, both of which
bring either the risk or reward closer to hand.

Therefore, to say that "they aren't going to do anything to pollute their
world" reflects a simplification of the issue. If there's no longer EQIP, CRP,
CREP, or any of a large number of other programs to encourage good land
management practices, then do you think the farmers will continue to do so?

If so, then let's cut that funding since obviously it's not needed.

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fennecfoxen
Well, that's what happens when you don't rotate your herbicides every season
like all the agriculture experts always told you to. Good luck with the next
business model, Monsanto.

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brianbreslin
There was an article about this a month ago, i think here. Saying that ALL of
monsanto's competitors are swooping in and seeing this as a golden opportunity
to shill their own seeds and herbicides as well. monsanto needs to adapt
quick. They've had quite some time to figure this out.

