AP: (Roundup)-resistant weed worries farmers

[babylonsister]

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AP: (Roundup)-resistant weed worries farmers

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MONSTER_WEED

Dec 18, 9:29 PM EST
Herbicide-resistant weed worries farmers
By ELLIOTT MINOR
Associated Press Writer

TIFTON, Ga. (AP) -- The cotton industry is concerned about the discovery of a herbicide-resistant weed that spreads easily, can grow an inch a day even during droughts and could force farmers to return to older growing methods that were harsher on the environment.

"It is potentially the worse threat since the boll weevil," said Alan York, weed scientist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, referring to the voracious beetle that devastated Southern cotton crops in the early 1900s and forced farmers to switch to alternatives such as peanuts.

...

The weed that is causing concern is Palmer amaranth, a type of pig weed that grows 6 to 10 feet tall. Amaranth that resists the most common herbicide used in cotton, glyphostate, has been confirmed in 10 of North Carolina's 100 counties, four of Georgia's 159 counties and is suspected in Tennessee, South Carolina and Arkansas, scientists say.

If someone were trying to design a particularly nasty weed, Palmer amaranth could be the model, York said.

"It's an extremely competitive weed," he said. "It's extremely prolific. It's an efficient ... bad weed."

In Georgia, where the weed has been confirmed in 48 fields, amaranth took over some fields and the cotton had to be cut down, rather than harvested, said University of Georgia weed scientist Stanley Culpepper. The weed can damage cotton pickers, the huge machines that pluck the world's leading natural fiber from the cotton bolls.

Glyphostate is sold under several brand names, but the leading product is Roundup, made by Monsanto.

...

[BOSSHOG]

1. Wow, that must be some powerful weed

Roundup is very strong. I can imagine farmers being worried about it. I recall Kudzoo growing up in Arkansas. It just grew and grew and grew. There is no successful way to fight weeds, cockroaches or fire ants. You may temporarily move them but you ain't gonna get rid of them permanently. I spend half my time in the yard pulling weeds; don't like to use poisons close to the house.

[LeftCoast]

2. It'd sure be interesting if they discovered that weed gained its resistance

through genetic contamination from 'roundup ready' crops produced by Monsanto...