Take a drive through the heartland and see acre upon acre, mile after mile, of beautiful corn and soybean crops, and see not a single weed or hoe-bearing farmworker. How do they do it?
The farmer magic is technology that allows technicians to re-engineer plant genetics so living plants will be resistant to chemical herbicides that will kill all other plants. Farmers can then sit back in their air-conditioned, satellite-guided tractor and terminate all the weeds in their world.
This technology was first placed on the table by the Monsanto Corporation, whose Roundup (glyphosate) herbicide and genetically-engineered Roundup-Ready crops made it billions. Some now say, however, that Monsanto is becoming a victim of its own success, as so much Monsanto herbicide was applied to so many Monsanto GE crops that weeds became Roundup resistant superweeds.
To help farmers cope, and hopefully earn a billion or two for itself, Dow Chemical is offering a solution to the resistance many now call “Agent Orange Corn,” which are plants re-engineered to be resistant to the 2,4-D herbicide made famous in the Viet Nam war.
Many, like the members of the Save Our Crops Coalition, fear what will happen when farmers begin combating superweeds by covering their croplands with Agent Orange, and so we ask…
Is agricultural science outsmarting itself? (Food Chain Radio #774)
