Monsanto’s Mass ‘Super Weeds’ Force Sustainable Farming
What happens when Monsanto’s modified creations get out of hand and threaten the biosphere with mutated ‘super weeds’ that continue to suffocate farmland across the entire planet? Experts call upon farmers and government officials to return to traditional sustainable farming practices — the kind without Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. It was recently reported by the media (despite them always being quite, and NaturalSociety and others reporting on this extensively back in 2011) that a “fast-spreading plague” of the super weeds is spreading and they will not be stopped easily.
The super resistant weeds threaten not only independent family farmers and major agricultural businesses alike, but also the future of food production. Experts are now calling for a radical change in farming practices, with time-tested traditional methods being the ultimate goal. In addition, weed scientists seek to hold a ‘summit’ or panel of sorts to address the issue in Washington. As a leading task force member who is working with the USDA on the issue stated, this is a bi-product of rampant biotechnology that must be remedied by returning to traditional norms.
“We don’t have that next technology. We have to get back to the fundamentals,” said top weed scientist David Shaw.
Like many other issues, the USDA has failed to address the serious concerns presented by experts over the growing super weeds in the past. This fact is represented by the pure numeric volume of the weeds, which now span across millions of acres worldwide. Amazingly, resistant weeds currently cover over 4.5 million hectares (a hectare is about 2.4 acres) in the United States alone, though experts estimate the world-wide land coverage to have reached at least 120 million hectares by 2010. And the outcome of this hyper resistance, of course, is excessive use of further herbicides — which still yields virtually no results.
Just as with Monsanto’s other products, the USDA continues to wait until serious consequences are experienced before even considering action. Meanwhile, the agency is giving Monsanto special ‘speedy approval‘ to expedite their latest inventions into the marketplace with extreme haste.
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Roundup is a useful tool when used responsibly. Herbicides are a safe way to control weeds within a field. Other options would be manual labor. (Person with a "corn knife" hacking out weeds. Which is how I spent my summer mornings as a child.) Or tillage, which would require frequent passes through a field, burning copious amounts of fuel. Both options are expensive, and one isn't exactly environmentally friendly.
The problem happens when there are abuses of products. (Which happens with all aspect of life, think of people being given antibiotics for a virus, or not taking the full course of antibiotics when sick.)
Quite honestly this isn't Monsanto's fault any more than antibiotic-resistant bugs are the pharmaceutical company's fault. This is a case of poor management and usage of an affordable and useful tool.
One of the "superweeds" is waterhemp (Amaranthus rudis). It is a pigweed that has an incredible ability to adapt, and MASSIVE seed production. So one resistant waterhemp can produce millions of resistant offspring. The goal in most farmer's fields is to control these weeds with a variety of tools when they are little and easy to eradicate. Obviously this doesn't always happen. Whether the weather doesn't cooperate with getting out in the field, or the field gets sprayed a week late, sometimes the weed doesn't die, leading to resistance.
The above comments, are quite literaly Monsanto paid commentaries. The truth is that sustainable farming multi-income paths which organic farmers now use to employ more people, regenerate their soils with no toxic herbicides, chemical fertilizers being washed into our waterways and causing dead zones inland and in the ocean. Dr.Monsanto Frankenstein really came to life with several brothers, Dr. Dow F., Dr. Basf F.. On GMOs rodents are smarter than our scientists, they avoid GM seeds when given an alternative! GM plants, seeds are toxic to our animals. But reports are kept out of print. Lets get rid of Monsanto plants,especially on our bulletin boards and expose them.
I agree with Nonkon. Also, Monsanto plants are sterile, in other words, one can no longer obtain seeds from the fruit. This is to dominate food production and ultimately the control of population so dear to Mr. Gates.