MONSANTO MELTDOWN - ROUNDUP RESISTANT WEEDS THREATEN MAJOR CASH IMPACT ON
LAND VALUES IN US

The US is being hit by Roundup Ready resistant weeds and an independent
market research study, which has been discreetly circulating and has been
seen by GM WATCH, says Roundup Ready resistance is set to hit the economic
value of farmland wiping around 17% off US land rentals. What's more, 46% of
the farm managers surveyed in the study said weed resistance to glyphosate,
the active ingredient in Monsanto's herbicide Roundup, is now their top
weed-resistance concern.

The report warns, "Suddenly, glyphosate-resistant weeds have become more
than an in-season production and profitability issue. They can also affect
the long-term value of farmland". It also says, "These survey findings
should make both farm managers and landowners take notice" because "The
economic consequences are significant" and can represent for landowners "a
major loss of cash flow".

Glyphosate is being massively used in North America thanks to Monsanto's GM
herbicide-resistant 'Roundup Ready' crops. But there is growing concern
among weed scientists and land owners about the emergence of
glyphosate-resistance. As the report notes, "The high volume of glyphosate
being used across the country as a result of RR technology adoption makes
this a very real concern for growers, professional farm managers and the
owners of farmland."

Glyphosate-resistant marestail has already been found in Delaware,
Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. Marestail (horseweed) is a prolific
seed producer and the seeds are easily blown around by the wind so this is a
major problem. But the problem doesn't stop there. Glyphosate-resistant
rigid ryegrass has been reported in California. Weed scientists in Iowa and
Missouri are already testing waterhemp from fields that seem to be showing
more tolerance to glyphosate. There are also complaints about marginal
control of velvetleaf, ivyleaf morningglory and lambsquarters control with
glyphosate.

The latest bad news for Monsanto, which has always promoted Roundup as a way
of simplifying farm management issues, comes courtesy of its main rival, the
world's largest biotech company, Syngenta, which commissioned the market
research study report and has been quietly circulating it to farmers and
landowners via its PR company, Gibbs & Soell.

Syngenta hopes to profit from the wave of concern over Roundup resistance as
people rush to use extra chemicals, and crop rotations not involving RR
crops, to try and head off the build up of glyphosate resistance on their
land.

But American famers using Roundup Ready crops could be headed up a
cul-de-sac.

According to weed scientists, such as Iowa State University's Mike Owen,
it's doubtful whether this kind of resistance management will be viewed as
economically feasable at elast in the short term. As Owen told a packed-out
meeting of North Central Weed Science Society in St. Louis recently, he
expects growers to try and carry on using glyphosate in the same way to try
and avoid the extra expense of other chemicals until they are finally forced
by resistance to switch to something else. But an article reporting on the
Weed Science Society meeting concludes, "With few, if any, new blockbuster
chemicals in the pipeline, the question may become whether there will be
alternative programs to switch to if glyphosate loses its effectiveness."
[see "Glyphosate resistance dominates weed science meetings", Mike Holmberg,
Farm Chemicals Editor, Successful Farming December 6, 2002,
http://www.biotech-info.net/dominating.html]

Among the CONCLUSIONS in the Syngenta report:

*Specific weed resistance can reduce a farm,s rentable value by 17 percent

*The greatest weed-resistance concern is glyphosate tolerance in RR crops

*More than half of farm managers placed it ahead of their concerns about
weed resistance to atrazine, Pursuit, ALS herbicides or propanil

*Almost two-thirds (63 percent) of these professional farm managers expect
the importance of glyphosate tolerance to increase in the future when
determining rental values and land appraisals. "Given the increasing
adoption of RR technology in corn,soybeans and cotton,these professional
farm managers and rural appraisers felt the importance of
glyphosate-resistant weeds will increase in the future.Overall, 63 percent
said it will become a bigger problem."

*Almost half (47 percent)now require practices to manage weed resistance...
This is expected to grow to 54 percent in the future

*Seventy percent said the use of weed resistance-management practices
already influence their tenant selection.

The report also looks at western Australia, where weed resistance to
herbicides is becoming a big problem for land productivity.

When roundup no longer works maybe one of Monsanto's other inventions
will keep the weeds down. I bet their invention PCB would work just
fine.

what good news!!! people been warning against these kind of GMO, now it appears they
were entirely on target. Ingrid


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Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
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endorsements or recommendations I make.

"Beecrofter" wrote in message
om...
When roundup no longer works maybe one of Monsanto's other inventions
will keep the weeds down. I bet their invention PCB would work just
fine.

Or, do it the old fashioned way - used motor oil
Frank

"Just another fan" wrote in
news:UbS2b.6916$n94.6087@fed1read04:

Glyphosate-resistant marestail has already been found in Delaware,
Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. Marestail (horseweed) is a
prolific seed producer and the seeds are easily blown around by the
wind so this is a major problem.

For the record, AFAIK marestail was never vulnerable to Glyphosate. It
always said so on the box.

Ursa..


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On 27 Aug 2003 17:30:44 GMT, Major Ursa opined:

"Just another fan" wrote in
news:UbS2b.6916$n94.6087@fed1read04:

Glyphosate-resistant marestail has already been found in Delaware,
Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. Marestail (horseweed) is a
prolific seed producer and the seeds are easily blown around by the
wind so this is a major problem.

For the record, AFAIK marestail was never vulnerable to Glyphosate. It
always said so on the box.

Ursa..

What is marestail? Anyone have a botanical name? If it's equisetum, I don't
believe it spreads by seed. Rather, it spreads by underground rhizomes.

In article ,
says...
What is marestail? Anyone have a botanical name? If it's equisetum, I don't
believe it spreads by seed. Rather, it spreads by underground rhizomes.


Or known as horseweed Conyza canadensis
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http://home.comcast.net/~larflu/owl1.jpg

Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!

Lar wrote in
t:

In article ,
says...
What is marestail? Anyone have a botanical name? If it's
:equisetum, I don't ) believe it spreads by seed. Rather, it spreads
:by underground rhizomes. )

Or known as horseweed Conyza canadensis

Hmmm, here in Holland (Eur) 'Equisetum arvense' is called "Heermoes" or
"Paardestaart". The latter would translate to "Horstail" so I assumed it
to be the same thing as "marestail", also from other postings in this
group.

Equisetum does indeed spread partly underground, but also by borken
particles that root again. On my box it says that Roundup is ineffective
against Paardestaart.

Could it be that Conyza canadensis == Equisetum arvense?

Ursa..

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In article Xns93E5A19A9D5AAmajorursaianemcom@
80.65.96.44, m says...
Could it be that Conyza canadensis == Equisetum arvense?

Ursa..


I came up with HorseWeed is Marestail, Conyza canadensis
and HorseTail (Field) is Equisetum arvense.

A search of "Conyza canadensis Equisetum arvense"
pulled up a few sights you probably can make more of
than me

http://www.fraktalwelt.de/lsys/modelle.htm
http://home-3.tiscali.nl/~pendersh/plant.htm



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http://home.comcast.net/~larflu/bludf2.jpg

Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!

Lar wrote in
t:

In article Xns93E5A19A9D5AAmajorursaianemcom@
80.65.96.44, m says...
Could it be that Conyza canadensis == Equisetum arvense?

Ursa..


I came up with HorseWeed is Marestail, Conyza canadensis
and HorseTail (Field) is Equisetum arvense.

A search of "Conyza canadensis Equisetum arvense"
pulled up a few sights you probably can make more of
than me

http://www.fraktalwelt.de/lsys/modelle.htm

That is very interesting. It proves that they are different species (see
photos). I linked it through Babelfish and got the translations (rewrap if
needed)

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babel...3A%2F%2Fwww.fr
aktalwelt.de%2Flsys%2Fmodelle.htm&lp=de_en&tt=url

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Ursa (Major)/ \ *-*-* *
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In article , Lar
writes:

I came up with HorseWeed is Marestail, Conyza canadensis
and HorseTail (Field) is Equisetum arvense.


That's correct Lar
Horseweed, Conyza canadensis, is sometimes called Marestail.
It's in the Asteraceae (Family) Flowering plant.
Equisetum, Horsetail, is also sometimes called Marestail when it is in the
form of a green, bushy, jointed sterile stem with whorls of thin branches
It is in the Equisetaceae (Family) and is closely related to ferns.
Equisetum reproduces from rhizomes and from spores.

Also sometimes called Marestail is Hippuris vulgare, Family Hippuricaceae,
an aquatic perennial plant, the upper stem having whorls of leaves, a
flowering plant.

Again the problem of common names rears its head...........

Emilie
NorCal

On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 05:07:17 GMT, Lar opined:

In article ,
says...
What is marestail? Anyone have a botanical name? If it's equisetum, I don't
believe it spreads by seed. Rather, it spreads by underground rhizomes.


Or known as horseweed Conyza canadensis

Oh, that was a great picture. Sheesh!