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May 5, 2010
· Farmers grapple with the rise of superweeds
· Soil erosion on US cropland down 40 percent
· Innovation campus to be food research model
· Soil fumigant nears registration in California
·
Top Dutch chefs wowed by Andean potatoes
Farmers grapple with the rise of superweeds
(The
New York Times)
But not this year.
On a recent afternoon here, Mr. Anderson watched as tractors crisscrossed a rolling field — plowing and mixing herbicides into the soil to kill weeds where soybeans will soon be planted.
Just as the heavy use of antibiotics contributed to the rise of drug-resistant supergerms, American farmers’ near-ubiquitous use of the weedkiller Roundup has led to the rapid growth of tenacious new superweeds.
To fight them, Mr. Anderson and farmers throughout the East,
“We’re back to where we were 20 years ago,” said Mr. Anderson, who will plow about one-third of his 3,000 acres of soybean fields this spring, more than he has in years. “We’re trying to find out what works.”
Farm experts say that such efforts could lead to higher food prices, lower crop yields, rising farm costs and more pollution of land and water.
“It is the single largest threat to production agriculture that we have ever seen,” said Andrew Wargo III, the president of the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts.
The first resistant species to pose a serious threat to
agriculture was spotted in a
The superweeds could temper American agriculture’s enthusiasm for some genetically modified crops. Soybeans, corn and cotton that are engineered to survive spraying with Roundup have become standard in American fields. However, if Roundup doesn’t kill the weeds, farmers have little incentive to spend the extra money for the special seeds.
Roundup — originally made by Monsanto but now also sold by others under the generic name glyphosate — has been little short of a miracle chemical for farmers. It kills a broad spectrum of weeds, is easy and safe to work with, and breaks down quickly, reducing its environmental impact.
Sales took off in the late 1990s, after Monsanto created its
brand of Roundup Ready crops that were genetically modified to tolerate the
chemical, allowing farmers to spray their fields to kill the weeds while
leaving the crop unharmed. Today, Roundup Ready crops account for about 90
percent of the soybeans and 70 percent of the corn and cotton grown in the
But farmers sprayed so much Roundup that weeds quickly
evolved to survive it. “What we’re talking about here is Darwinian evolution in
fast-forward,” Mike Owen, a weed scientist at
Now, Roundup-resistant weeds like horseweed and giant ragweed are forcing farmers to go back to more expensive techniques that they had long ago abandoned.
Mr. Anderson, the farmer, is wrestling with a particularly tenacious species of glyphosate-resistant pest called Palmer amaranth, or pigweed, whose resistant form began seriously infesting farms in western Tennessee only last year.
Pigweed can grow three inches a day and reach seven feet or more, choking out crops; it is so sturdy that it can damage harvesting equipment. In an attempt to kill the pest before it becomes that big, Mr. Anderson and his neighbors are plowing their fields and mixing herbicides into the soil.
That threatens to reverse one of the agricultural advances bolstered by the Roundup revolution: minimum-till farming. By combining Roundup and Roundup Ready crops, farmers did not have to plow under the weeds to control them. That reduced erosion, the runoff of chemicals into waterways and the use of fuel for tractors.
If frequent plowing becomes necessary again, “that is
certainly a major concern for our environment,” Ken Smith, a weed scientist at
the
“The biotech industry is taking us into a more
pesticide-dependent agriculture when they’ve always promised, and we need to be
going in, the opposite direction,” said Bill Freese,
a science policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety in
So far, weed scientists estimate that the total amount of United States farmland afflicted by Roundup-resistant weeds is relatively small — seven million to 10 million acres, according to Ian Heap, director of the International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds, which is financed by the agricultural chemical industry. There are roughly 170 million acres planted with corn, soybeans and cotton, the crops most affected.
Roundup-resistant weeds are also found in several other
countries, including
Monsanto, which once argued that resistance
would not become a major problem, now cautions against exaggerating its impact.
“It’s a serious issue, but it’s manageable,” said Rick Cole, who manages weed
resistance issues in the
Of course, Monsanto stands to lose a lot of business if farmers use less Roundup and Roundup Ready seeds.
“You’re having to add another
product with the Roundup to kill your weeds,” said Steve Doster,
a corn and soybean farmer in Barnum,
Monsanto argues that Roundup still controls hundreds of weeds. But the company is concerned enough about the problem that it is taking the extraordinary step of subsidizing cotton farmers’ purchases of competing herbicides to supplement Roundup.
Monsanto and other agricultural biotech companies are also developing genetically engineered crops resistant to other herbicides.
Bayer is already selling cotton and soybeans resistant to glufosinate, another weedkiller. Monsanto’s newest corn is tolerant of both glyphosate and glufosinate, and the company is developing crops resistant to dicamba, an older pesticide. Syngenta is developing soybeans tolerant of its Callisto product. And Dow Chemical is developing corn and soybeans resistant to 2,4-D, a component of Agent Orange, the defoliant used in the Vietnam War.
Still, scientists and farmers say that glyphosate is a once-in-a-century discovery, and steps need to be taken to preserve its effectiveness.
Glyphosate “is as important for reliable global food production as penicillin is for battling disease,” Stephen B. Powles, an Australian weed expert, wrote in a commentary in January in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Research Council, which advises the federal government on scientific matters, sounded its own warning last month, saying that the emergence of resistant weeds jeopardized the substantial benefits that genetically engineered crops were providing to farmers and the environment.
Weed scientists are urging farmers to alternate glyphosate with other herbicides. But the price of glyphosate has been falling as competition increases from generic versions, encouraging farmers to keep relying on it.
Something needs to be done, said Louie Perry Jr., a cotton
grower whose great-great-grandfather started his farm in
“If we don’t whip this thing, it’s going to be like the boll weevil did to cotton,” said Mr. Perry, who is also chairman of the Georgia Cotton Commission. “It will take it away.”
William
Neuman reported from Dyersburg, Tenn., and Andrew
Pollack from
Soil erosion on US
(USDA) –
The information was contained in the latest National Resource Inventory (NRI) for Non-Federal Lands, which was released at an event marking the 75th Anniversary of USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the agency charged with ensuring private lands are conserved, restored, and more resilient to environmental challenges.
"The NRI results are significant because they provide a scientifically-based snapshot of the nation's natural resources and the ability to track trends in natural resource use and condition," Merrigan said. "The NRI provides a wealth of information that can be used by agricultural and environmental policymakers to make informed decisions about the nation's natural resources."
Key findings from the 2007 NRI include:
* Total cropland erosion (sheet, rill and wind) declined by about 43 percent, from more than 3.06 billion tons per year in 1982 to about 1.72 billion tons per year in 2007. The reduction reflects NRCS's emphasis on working with producers and landowners to reduce erosion. Most of the soil erosion reductions occurred between 1987 and 1997.
* Cropland acreage declined from 420 million acres in 1982 to 357 million acres in 2007, a 15 percent decrease. About half of this reduction is reflected in enrollments of environmental sensitive cropland in USDA's Conservation Reserve Program.
* About 40 million acres of land were newly developed between 1982 and 2007, bringing the national total to about 111 million acres. More development occurred in the Southeast than in any other region. For the NRI, developed land includes rural transportation corridors such as roads and railroads as well as urban and built-up areas which include residential, industrial, commercial and other land uses. The findings on development are important because development isolates tracts of former farmland, which degrades wildlife habitat and makes agricultural production inefficient.
* There were 325
million acres of prime farmland in 2007, compared to 339 million acres in 1982.
The acreage of prime farmland converted to other uses such as development
during the 25-year period is greater than the combined area of
* The total area
of developed land in all states, except
NRI provides scientifically-based, statistically accurate
estimates of natural resource status, conditions and trends on non-federal
The NRI will assist USDA in its efforts to complete its Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act (RCA) appraisal. RCA guides future USDA soil, water and related resource conservation activities on non-federal lands, while considering both the long and short-term needs of the nation. USDA is scheduled to complete the RCA appraisal by January 2011.
For additional information about NRI, please visit www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/nri
Innovation campus to be food research model
(JournalStar.com)
– The University of
"I think this will have to be the model, not just for
UNL, but for most campuses," Sally Mackenzie told those gathered for an international Water for Food conference in
Mackenzie, director of the university's Center for Plant Science Innovation, was a featured speaker at the three-day event focused on wise use of water at a time when the world's population is growing rapidly and the water supply isn't.
Moving the Nebraska State Fair to
In keeping with the theme of the event, Mackenzie offered a wish list for crops that included modifying plant structure to increase water efficiency. But she said the current contribution of university researchers to that cause leaves a lot to be desired.
That's largely because it's "enormously expensive" to get new research to the point of commercialization under circumstances in which two and sometimes three federal agencies do case-by-case reviews of results.
"This process excludes public sector researchers" and offers "very little incentive in the university system" to take findings beyond laboratory settings, Mackenzie said.
In a climate of limitation, "most universities don't educate or motivate their faculties that way."
Pairing university efforts with such prominent profit-oriented companies as Monsanto and Dupont offers a much better chance of advancing actual food production.
"Being able to take things all the way to commercialization is quite a challenge," she said.
At the conference Tuesday, Monsanto's chief technology officer, Robb Fraley, will step to the podium to describe its progress toward drought-tolerant crops and other magnifiers of food production.
St. Louis-based Monsanto is widely regarded as the world's
leading biotech company, and Fraley said in an interview Monday that the
water-food connection is important in the
"It's an area that a lot of folks are focusing on and working in."
Since his days growing up on an
Along the way, the first genetically enhanced corn offered protection against corn borer caterpillars in 1996.
"Today much of the corn planted in
"And some of it, this spring, is actually going to have eight traits."
Monsanto's march toward genetically enhanced drought
tolerance, regarded as within reach by 2012-13, depends, in part, on findings
at its new
Compared to advances in controlling insects and weeds, "drought tolerance is more complicated science," Fraley said, "but it's probably even more important and valuable to farmers."
It's an exciting time to be a crop researcher, he said.
"I think we're living, probably, in the most prolific time in terms of scientific advancement of agriculture."
Soil fumigant nears registration in California
(Wire Services) SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Arysta LifeScience said the State of California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) has announced the proposed decision to register MIDAS®, a broad spectrum soil fumigant that effectively controls a broad range of soil-borne diseases, nematodes, weed seeds and insects that threaten high-value crops such as ornamentals, strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, tree fruit, nuts and vines as well as turf.
“This announcement is a step in the right direction for
MIDAS® is comprised of a formulated blend of iodomethane and chloropicrin and is effective at more than 40 percent lower use rates compared to methyl bromide. Growers using MIDAS® may reduce the total amount of chemicals used in their fields and as well as emissions into the environment while still producing healthier, high-yielding crops.
In addition, MIDAS® does not deplete the earth’s ozone layer. In April 2009, the United States EPA awarded Arysta LifeScience and several notable researchers from Universities and the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture the prestigious Ozone Layer Protection Award in recognition of the non-ozone depleting characteristics of MIDAS®.
“This is a step in the right direction for the agricultural
community and the environment,” said Royce Schulte, U.S. Product Manager for
Fumigants for Arysta LifeScience. “Growers in other areas of the country have
been using MIDAS® for more than two years. It’s time that
MIDAS® is one of the most comprehensively researched
compounds in the history of modern agriculture. More than 100 renowned national
and international scientists worked to develop the state-of-the-art toxicology
and environmental studies that support the MIDAS® data package. The MIDAS®
label is the most protective label in the fumigant industry, and is backed by a
superior stewardship and training program for certified applicators to ensure
proper handling and application. To date, MIDAS® has been used on more than
15,500 acres in the
Iodomethane is currently
registered in the
About Arysta LifeScience Corporation
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Arysta LifeScience is the world’s largest privately held crop protection and life science company with 2009 revenues of JPY112 billion (US$1.2 billion). An entrepreneurial provider of crop protection and life science products in more than 125 countries worldwide, Arysta LifeScience specializes in marketing and distribution of respected crop protection brands and life science products in harmony with the needs of global partners. More information on the company is available at: www.arystalifescience.com.
Top Dutch chefs wowed by Andean potatoes
(International
Potato Center) -- “Fascinating!” That was the
adjective of the day most heard from the 14 Dutch chefs, who visited the
The visiting chefs
were all recognized food experts, top class restaurant owners, and Michelin
star holders; the highest honor you can get in the world of prestigious
restaurants. Three Michelin stars are what it takes to gain entry to the
gastronomic elite of international cuisine.
During a tour of the
Center’s Biodiversity Complex, the chefs were intrigued by the extensive
variety of tuber colors and shapes on display there for them to look at and
handle. There were even some chefs who doubted that some of the more whimsical
looking varieties were edible. Potato research scientists Alberto Salas and
René Gómez were on hand to answer each of the chef’s
questions, and biologist Ivan Manrique described the
biodiversity of the nine other Andean root and tuber crops held at the complex.
André Devaux, coordinator of the Papa Andina
initiative, explained the process for placing new products on the market,
successfully linking research into native potato varieties with the development
of opportunities for the farmers and communities that produce them.
Chuño, a freeze dried potato flour, was another of
the products that attracted much attention from the visitors. Moshik Roth, Israeli chef and owner of the Michelin starred
restaurant T Brouweskolkje, said he used freeze dried
products in some of his dishes, never imagining that the technique had been
developed in its natural form by the Incas.
The chefs decided to
come to
In addition to Roth,
other members of the delegation were Eric van Loo,
Akira Oshima, Dick Middelweerd,
Henk Savelberg and Gus Vredenburg, along with other Dutch gourmet cuisine
entrepreneurs.
End Transmission