Superweeds Threaten Agriculture Grocery Bills to Jump

North Americans can expect a jump in their grocery bills as the agricultural industry is finding superweeds invading corn and soybean fields. The weedkiller Roundup is losing its effectiveness. Farmers will have to cope with more chemicals, more cultivation costs, and higher labour costs. All of which will be reflected in the supermarket bill.

Superweeds are threatening agriculture in the US where widespread use of genetically engineered crops have been planted since the 1980s. Monsanto pioneered the manufacture of plants with the ability to live when dosed with the weed killer Roundup. The plants are called Roundup Ready. When the seeds were first marketed to farmers they were quickly accepted, allowing a weed free crop with just a couple of sprayings and no need to till the soil. This resulted in big savings in labour costs and increased crop yields.

The leader in genetic manipulation of food crops is the multinational Monsanto corp. which also manufactures the weedkiller Roundup. Twenty years later, it is evident that Roundup is losing its punch on the weeds. Farmers have been spraying ever increasing amounts of the chemical glyphosate with diminishing results. In some cases, the crop losses amount to 100%.

“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.New York Times

Superweeds have come about in much the same way as antibiotic resistant bacteria. When a field is sprayed with Roundup, most of the weeds will be killed. Some survive and live to pass on their genes to the next generation, and so on. The added kicker here is that many weeds spread their genes on the wind. Currently about 170 million acres have become infested with these monster weeds: horseweed, giant ragweed, Palmer amaranth and pigweed are some of the worst plants identified. Other countries are starting to report superweeds as well.

In order to cope with the growing tide of superweeds, Monsanto is working on more genetic manipulation, inserting bacterial genes into their GMO products. One of their lines of corn seed already contains eight alien genes. While the bacterial genes confer resistance to the herbicide 2,4-D there is no guarantee that the same scenario of building monster weeds won't play out in another twenty years.