A much-used herbicide, which for years has helped farmers throughout the United States
increase profits, is losing its effectiveness and forcing producers to
spend more and use more chemicals to control the weeds that threaten
yields.

“I’ve gone from budgeting $45 an acre just two
years ago to spending more than $100 an acre now to control weeds,” said
Mississippi farmer John McKee, who grows corn, cotton and soybeans on his 3,300-acre farm in the Delta.

The problem is Roundup, a herbicide introduced in the 1970s, and its partner, Roundup Ready
crop seeds, genetically modified to withstand Roundup’s active
ingredient, glyphosate. In 1996, Monsanto introduced Roundup Ready
soybean, soon touted as a game changer.

“It was an extremely valuable and useful tool for the past 15 years,” said Bob Scott, extension weed scientist with the University of Arkansas.

But now, weeds that Roundup once controlled are becoming resistant to glyphosate, Scott said.

“It’s a very, very serious issue here in the Delta,” licensed crop consultant Joe Townsend said. “We’re knee-deep in it.”

As
overuse of antibiotics led to resistant bugs or superbugs, the
almost exclusive use of glyphosate led to resistant populations of
weeds, such as pigweed and ryegrass. Glyphosate-resistant weeds have
been identified in Australia, South America and China, according to the International Survey of Herbicide-Resistant Weeds.

To
combat resistant weeds, farmers are turning to older methods of weed
control — more chemicals and more tillage, which leads to increased
rates of soil erosion. “I used so many chemicals last year, it made me
silly,” McKee said. “We’re going backwards 15 years.”

Bill Freese, science policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety in Washington, D.C.,
says the use of more chemicals has real public health implications. “It
increases the chances they will get into our food and water.” Weed
resistance to herbicides is not new. But, Freese says, it’s happening
at a much quicker rate. “Because of the use of a single chemical
(glyphosate), it’s speeding up evolution.” Herbicide-resistant crops are” taking us in the wrong direction. It’s just not sustainable.”