- Posted By: Steve Orloff
- Written by: Steve Orloff
Roundup Ready (RR) alfalfa was the fifth glyphosate-tolerant crop to be commercialized in the United States following canola, soybeans, cotton and corn (1996, 1997, 1997, and 1998, respectively). Its release has been more contentious and highly disputed than any of its predecessors. Its introduction in the fall of 2005 was short lived and an injunction was issued by a circuit court judge in March of 2007 halting new plantings but allowing production on existing fields to continue. Roundup Ready alfalfa was deregulated for the second time in February of 2011 after a 4-year ban. Earlier this month a U.S. federal judge upheld this decision.
Growers and the alfalfa industry as a whole now have a full...
- Posted By: Gale Perez
- Written by: Posted by David Low, The Weed's News; by Bob Egelko, The Chronicle
[The Chronicle 07 jan, 2012 by Bob Egelko] -- A federal U.S. judge has upheld the government's decision to let the nation's alfalfa growers plant the genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant strain manufactured by Monsanto Co., saying the alleged risk of contaminating other crops does not require regulators to impose buffer zones. The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the use of Roundup Ready alfalfa - so named because it is designed to withstand Monsanto's Roundup herbicide - in January 2011, ending a nationwide ban that another judge had imposed in March 2007. The action was challenged by a group of alfalfa farmers who said they feared that the Monsanto product, spread by winds and bees, would pollinate their crops and take...
- Posted By: Gale Perez
- Written by: Vonny Barlow, Entomology Advisor, UCCE Riverside County
Weeds are often the most problematic to manage in and around agricultural fields. Yellow and purple nutsedge are difficult to manage and it seems brings an additional pest of concern. Nematodes! From Weed Science; Greenhouse experiments showed that yellow nutsedge established from root-knot nematode-infected tubers produced more tubers than noninfected tubers. Root-knot nematode populations became established on yellow nutsedge root systems when plants were established from tubers previously cultured with root-knot nematodes. When root-knot nematodes are present, yellow nutsedge tuber germination is not affected by metolachlor herbicide... the pests do not exist independently and that their management may be interrelated.
- Posted By: Brad Hanson
- Written by: Dan Putnam
Article originally posted on the UC ANR Green Blog on October 11, 2011. Written by Danial Putnam and reposted with permission. Brad
Those of us who work with alfalfa have seen our much-loved Queen of Forages relegated to poster child of all things evil about genetic engineering (GE) and the supposed damage it may wreak. While hay growers have always felt alfalfa has received insufficient attention – this was probably not what they had in mind!
Those of us who work with alfalfa have seen our much-loved Queen of Forages relegated to poster child of all things evil about genetic engineering (GE) and the supposed...
- Author: Brad Hanson
I was sent a short article from Science this week that discussed the impact of biotech crops on organic farms. The article is entitled "Can Biotech and Organic Farmers Get Along?" discusses issues with the science and politics surrounding GMO crops and gene flow to organic crops.
Science (online at www.sciencemag.org) is not open access so I can't post the pdf here. However, non-subscribers can read a summary and listen to a podcast interveiw with the author, Erik Stokstad, at this link (if you are at an institution that subscribes to Science, you can get the full article too). I think the podcast interview is interesting and a good presentation of...