One Man's Word of Caution - USDA Roundup Ready Decision

Roundup Ready Resistance has been an ongoing news item on agfax.com and in some of our crop newsletters for the last couple of years.

University newsletters and blogs are full of stories about weeds that have become and are becoming resistant to the weed killer, also known as glyphosate. The best minds in agriculture are thrashing around with ideas and suggestions for the biggest gun to take to the showdown with Pigweed. The good news is that they are coming up with recommendations. The bad news is that there is no magic bullet and fighting herbicide resistance is a war, not a battle.

Roundup Ready technology has now gained a firm foot in sweet potatoes and alfalfa. After some legal battles, USDA recently handed over no holds barred, non-regulatory status to the Roundup Ready chemistry in these crops.

With that decision in mind and the Pigweed war constantly in front of us, I thought it was interesting to read the opinion of Dr. William Curran, Professor of Weed Science, Penn State. He voices a note of caution about the USDA decision and its apparent bias in "not addressing any of the concerns brought by the plaintiffs" in the legal battle.

Debra