Beijing | Reuters –– Three Chinese citizens are taking China’s Ministry of Agriculture to court in a bid to make public a toxicology report supporting the approval of Monsanto’s popular herbicide, Roundup, 27 years ago. The case, a rare example of a lawsuit by private citizens against the Chinese government, comes amid renewed attention on […] Read more

Chinese citizens sue government over transparency on Roundup
U.S. EPA to require weed-resistance restrictions on glyphosate
Reuters — U.S. regulators will put new restrictions on the world’s most widely used herbicide to help address the rapid expansion of weeds resistant to the chemical, Reuters has learned. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed it will require a weed resistance management plan for glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s immensely popular Roundup […] Read more
Scientist defends WHO group report linking glyphosate to cancer
Reuters — A World Health Organization group’s controversial finding that the world’s most popular herbicide is “probably carcinogenic to humans” was based on a thorough scientific review and is a key marker in ongoing evaluations of the product, the scientist who led the study said Thursday. “There were several studies. There was sufficient evidence in […] Read more

Monsanto seeks retraction for report linking herbicide to cancer
Reuters — Monsanto, maker of the world’s most widely used herbicide, Roundup, wants an international health organization to retract a report linking the product’s chief ingredient to cancer. The company said Tuesday that the report, issued on Friday by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), was biased and contradicts regulatory […] Read more

Monsanto rips cancer agency’s Roundup takedown
The decision by an international group of cancer experts to classify the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide as “probably carcinogenic” has drawn fire from the product’s main maker. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a France-based arm of the World Health Organization, on Friday released its working group’s evaluations on the cancer-causing potential […] Read more

Farmers are the front line for slowing herbicide resistance
Weed scientist says producers need to extend rotations, not overuse glyphosate, and employ the most effective tank mixes
Reading Time: 2 minutes Herbicide resistance is like a forest fire — only you can prevent it. That was the message from weed scientist Linda Hall, who said producers need to step up to prevent a situation like that in the U.S. where glyphosate-resistant weeds are now epidemic in corn, soybeans and cotton crops. “It’s easy to say that […] Read more

Herbicide-resistant weeds are just the symptom
Is resistance the problem, or is it farmers’ dependence on chemistry?
Reading Time: 3 minutes For decades, the experts have treated the growing problem of herbicide-resistant weeds as something solvable by the next new chemistry or biological breakthrough. But now more are stepping back and acknowledging it as a symptom of a much bigger issue in modern agriculture. In fact, one of the world’s leading experts in managing herbicide resistance […] Read more
Fall weed control window
Reading Time: < 1 minute If you have weeds that are green, not too much trash covering, and moisture in the soil, there’s still time for fall weed control. “It doesn’t work out every year that we have this opportunity, but this year it does,” said Harry Brook, provincial crop specialist. “There can’t have been a terrible killing frost, the […] Read more

Study shows no downside to pre-harvest glyphosate on malt barley
Pre-harvest glyphosate applied at the right time and the right rate has no negative impact on malt barley germination — a key concern for maltsters
Reading Time: 2 minutes Malt barley producers battling secondary growth in the fall may soon be able to add glyphosate to their arsenal, thanks to a federal research study underway across the Prairies. These preliminary findings are part of a larger study looking at agronomic practices to improve malt barley quality and yield, said federal research scientist John O’Donovan. […] Read more
Dispelling the myth of Big Agriculture
Putting out the facts is farmers’ best way for discrediting their critics
Reading Time: 3 minutes What would you think if Big Oil or Big Tobacco said to you, “Just trust us!”? Are we guilty of the same thing in Big Agriculture? Do we even consider why they paint all of us that way even those we are just family farmers? So what if we use herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers and even […] Read more