Posted on 08/22/2016 2:09:41 PM PDT by Theoria
Issue is linked to Monsanto’s introduction of new herbicide-resistant biotech soybean
Farmers in southern U.S. states have long battled weeds and destructive bugs, but this year they face a new threat: their neighbors.
They say some growers are illegally spraying a powerful herbicide that is damaging hundreds of thousands of crop acres in Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee, a trend that regulators, farmers and academics link to Monsanto Co. ’s introduction this year of a new variety of genetically modified soybean.
Monsanto’s new biotech soybean was designed to resist herbicides, including a powerful chemical called dicamba, long used to kill weeds but prone to drifting into neighboring fields. Monsanto sold farmers the new seeds before it was able to provide an updated version of the herbicide, designed not to drift. That new herbicide is still awaiting regulatory approval.
Philip Miller, vice president of global regulatory affairs for Monsanto, said the company “took quite a bit of effort” instructing farmers and pesticide dealers to avoid spraying older versions of dicamba over the new biotech beans, and the vast majority of farmers have complied. Monsanto doesn’t manufacture older versions of dicamba.
The situation illustrates the potential pitfalls of genetically engineered crops and the regulatory system that governs plant genes and related chemical products. Damage to nearby fields could slash those farmers’ crop yields at a time when U.S. farmers already are on pace for their leanest year since 2002.
Already-low crop prices, advancing weeds that require more-powerful sprays to kill, and low fines for illegal spraying have motivated farmers to break the law, regulators and academics say.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I knew a corn farmer who sprayed something that killed tobacco in a field two miles away.
Canada has had these problems for years...and the ‘little guy’ always loses in court.
What a rip, but the law’s bought and paid for.
Submit or go bankrupt.
I hear these stories all the time. I am certain they do not happen as often as the press would like you to believe. If I spray a crop, and even my next door neighbor feels the effect, let alone some guy down the road, I am doing something very wrong, especially from an economical stand point. I want that product on my crop, no where else. It does me no good on your property. If it ends up somewhere else I am applying too much, applying under the wrong conditions, and worst of all, I am wasting tons of time and money.
Are you a farmer?
My farmer father-in-law used to say the same thing when news agencies would blame farmers for the influx of fertilizer in lakes, rivers etc. Said it’s the guy who is buying a $10 bag of fertilizer for his lawn and figures if one bag is good, two must be better.
Lots of farmers have equipment that puts down the appropriate amount based on satellite input. They drive the tractor and the computer determines where and how much fertilizer to put down.
And monsanto will proceed to sue ALL of the surrounding farmers for IP theft, regardless of whether it’s their fault or not.
They tried that shit in Oregon recently. Somebody planted GMO wheat “by mistake” and it cross-pollinated with some other fields. Most of the wheat grown in the area is for export to asia, which does NOT allow GMO wheat.
In short, the asian importers cut off their imports, and monsanto threatened to sue the surrounding farmers.
The farmers responses were everything from torching crops to making some monsanto seed users “disappear”.
Sounds like just plain old RACKETEERING by Monsanto.. Buy my seed or your neighbors will KILL YOUR CROPS with our New Spray that OUR SEED IS IMMUNE TO.
??
Excuse me WHERE ARE THE FRIKKIN HANDCUFFS AND ROPE???
Monsanto’s introduction of new herbicide-resistant biotech soybean
Is that the New one that Causes Cancer and Autism???
Prove it.
L
You are exactly right.
I work for Monsanto’s main competitor. Not only are most commercial-grade pesticides strictly regulated (see a FIFRA label for nighttime reading), but many are very expensive.
bkmk
I think they are similar to agent orange and cause cancer.I was in the greenhouse business and tried to avoid spraying.
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