2.Why glyphosate resistance is so important
GM WATCH COMMENT: Around 80% of the GM crops being grown around the world are herbicide-resistant crops, predominantly Roundup Ready.
EXTRACTS: "...the number of glyphosate-resistant weeds tripled in just over eight years of repeated glyphosate use due to the introduction of Roundup Ready crops" - Steven Knezevic, integrated weed management specialist at UNL's Haskell Agricultural Laboratory (item 1)
"...we have built our entire farming system in cotton, corn and soybeans around this one herbicide.
"In the past, when resistance to an herbicide developed, we simply switched herbicides and moved on.
"Times have changed... There does not appear to be any novel chemistry being developed.
"If you are farming for the short haul, it probably does not matter. However, if you are farming for the long haul, glyphosate resistance needs to become a 'big deal.'" - Ford L. Baldwin, Practical Weed Consultants, LLC (item 2)
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1.Glyphosate-resistant marestail confirmed in Nebraska
by Peter Shinn
Brownfield (Ag News), October 27 2006
http://www.brownfieldnetwork.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=8B796413-0037-AF00-258CA34199D95BB1
The University of Nebraska at Lincoln (UNL) announced Thursday their weed scientists had confirmed the presence of the first glyphosate-resistant weed in the Good Life State. They said it reinforced the need for farmers to implement integrated weed resistant management (IRWM) strategies.
According to a UNL press release, it took a year of testing to determine marestail in Nebraska, also known as horseweed, is resistant to glyphosate. The release said it's the first glyphosate-resistant weed to be confirmed in the state.
Steven Knezevic, integrated weed management specialist at UNL's Haskell Agricultural Laboratory said widespread use of glyphosate herbicide, developed by Monsanto Company under the Roundup Ready brand, has resulted in selection pressure on weed populations since its launch a decade ago.
"Prior to the introduction of glyphosate-tolerant crops only a few weed species, ryegrass and goosegrass, had developed resistance worldwide," Knezevic said in the release. "However, the number of glyphosate-resistant weeds tripled in just over eight years of repeated glyphosate use due to the introduction of Roundup Ready crops."
According to the release, other glyphosate-resistant weeds in the U.S. include waterhemp, lambsquarters, giant ragweed, common ragweed and palmer amaranth. And UNL weeds specialist Alex Martin said the discovery of glyphosate-resistant marestail in Nebraska highlights the importance of IRWM practices, especially with when planting Roundup Ready corn after Roundup ready beans, or vice versa.
"We believe that glyphosate and herbicide-tolerant crops, including those based on glyphosate herbicide, can remain useful components of crop production systems only with proper management," Martin said in the release. "It is easy to fall into a trap of overusing glyphosate versus combinations of pre-emergence herbicides or tank mix partners when one Roundup Ready crop is grown after another."
Related Links:
More on UNL's finding of glyphosate-resistant marestail in Nebraska
http://cropwatch.unl.edu/archives/2006/crop24/resistant_marestail.htm
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2.Why glyphosate resistance is so important
By Ford L. Baldwin
Practical Weed Consultants, LLC
Delta Farm Press, Oct 24 2006 [shortened]
http://deltafarmpress.com/news/061024-glyphosate-resistance/
I spend so much time on glyphosate resistance because we have built our entire farming system in cotton, corn and soybeans around this one herbicide.
In the past, when resistance to an herbicide developed, we simply switched herbicides and moved on.
Quite often, as resistance developed, we had a new herbicide coming that was better than what we had. Because of this, farmers had no reason to take the herbicide resistance issue very seriously.
In my former career as a university specialist, I would commonly hear, "By the time I get resistance on my farm, the companies and university will have a solution, so I'm not going to worry about it." At that time, it was hard to argue with that philosophy.
Times have changed. The Roundup Ready technology simply blew existing weed control technology out of the water.
There does not appear to be any novel chemistry being developed. In today's market, because anything developed has to compete with generic glyphosate prices, a newer better herbicide simply is not coming along to solve a major resistance problem.
I am rarely asked for advice by younger university weed scientists. However, when I am asked, I advise them to stake their careers on something other than new herbicides coming along.
If you are farming for the short haul, it probably does not matter. However, if you are farming for the long haul, glyphosate resistance needs to become a "big deal." Next week I will attempt to let Palmer pigweed explain that better.
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