Why don’t most farmers want to give up Roundup, despite its cost and toxicity? It made growing row crops so much easier and more profitable–but now farmers can’t make a profit, even with glyphosate.
Why don’t most farmers want to give up Roundup, despite its cost and toxicity? It made growing row crops so much easier and more profitable–but now farmers can’t make a profit, even with glyphosate.
So they are stuck with more toxic exposures, more damage to their soil, and they are again losing money on their (Round-Ready) crops
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Why do farmers use Roundup, which contains glyphosate? Because they use Roundup-Ready seeds, which have been genetically engineered to resist being killed by glyphosate. Which kills most of the other weeds.
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Why do they do this? Because a friend told me that close to 50% of the cost of growing organic produce is due to weeding, which must be done by hand. Glyphosate and the glyphosate resistant seeds drastically reduce weeding. Use of herbicides also enables farmers to avoid tilling.
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94% of soy grown in the US is “Roundup-Ready.”
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Key Roundup Ready Crops and Varieties
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Soybeans: The most common Roundup Ready crop, often used in combinations like XtendFlex (which tolerates glyphosate, glufosinate, and Dicamba).
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Corn: Both field corn and sweet corn varieties are available with this trait.
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Alfalfa: Commercialized for forage production.
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Canola: Widely used, with early adoption in Canada.
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Cotton: Extensively used for fiber production.
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Sugarbeets: Engineered for glyphosate tolerance.
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Turfgrass: Kentucky Bluegrass has been engineered to be Roundup Ready.
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But now, some weeds have developed resistance to glyphosate. Farmers are using increased amounts of glyphosate or adding additional herbicides like the newly re-approved dicamba (with additional toxicity) to deal with the resistance.
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No matter what they do, farmers just can’t win. It’s time to rethink this model.
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Bayer/Monsanto is rethinking the model, and trying to develop more GMO seeds that can produce their own pesticides, like GMO corn that makes its own Bt toxin.
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And they have asked for a cut-out, a special exemption in the 2026 Farm Bill, that would prevent EPA from regulating GMO plants that make their own pesticides, the way other pesticides are regulated.
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And we the people need to rethink the model of playing Wack-a-Mole with captured federal agencies and elected officials.
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But for right now, let’s whack another mole with the pesticide liability shield, which is winnable if enough people express their outrage—then let’s think together how to seriously fix this system. See the next post.