MORE WEED RESISTANCE, MORE PESTICIDES USED
A recently published study by Washington State University research professor Charles Benbrook finds that the use of herbicides in the production of three genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops - cotton, soybeans and corn - has actually increased. This finding is based on an exhaustive analysis of publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agriculture Statistics Service.
Benbrook’s analysis is the first peer-reviewed, published estimate of the impacts of genetically engineered (GE) herbicide-resistant (HT) crops on pesticide use.
In the study, Benbrook writes that the emergence and spread of glyphosate-resistant weeds is strongly correlated with the increase in herbicide use. Marketed as Roundup and other trade names, glyphosate is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide. Approximately 95 percent of soybean and cotton acres, and more than 85 percent of corn, are planted to varieties genetically modified to be herbicide resistant.
"Resistant weeds have become a major problem for many farmers reliant on GE crops, and they are now driving up the volume of herbicide needed each year by about 25 percent,” Benbrook said.
The annual increase in the herbicides required to deal with tougher-to-control weeds on cropland planted to GE cultivars has grown from 1.5 million pounds in 1999 to about 90 million pounds in 2011.
Herbicide-tolerant crops worked extremely well in the first few years of use, Benbrook's analysis shows, but over-reliance may have led to shifts in weed communities and the spread of resistant weeds that force farmers to increase herbicide application rates (especially glyphosate), spray more often and add new herbicides that work through an alternate mode of action into their spray programs.
A detailed summary of the study's major findings, "Impacts of genetically engineered crops on pesticide use in the U.S. - the first sixteen years,” is available online at http://www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/24/abstract
Rural Papers is the voice of the Kansas Rural Center, Inc., a nonprofit organization that promotes the long-term health of the land and its people through research, education, and advocacy. The KRC cultivates grass-roots support for public policies that encourage family farming and stewardship of soil and water. KRC is committed to economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially sustainable rural culture. KRC is funded by private foundations, grants, and individual contributions.
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