I think there are some misconceptions here. I am not a chemist
nor a farmer, but I will try to give some insights from a layman's
perspective. As I have stated before, my closest friend is a
farmer, from generations of farmers. He and his family own
several thousand acres of land, acquired over generations.
First of all, Roundup is a herbicide, not a pesticide. Pesticides
kill insects, herbicides kill plant life. Herbicides are necessary
to keep grass and weeds from overtaking the crops. I am not
aware of any pesticides that are used on soybeans. I was
visiting my friend yesterday and he was pointing out a field
of beans that had been sprayed with a herbicide recently. The
soybeans and the grasses were both about 6 to 8 inches in
height. The soybeans were green, the grass was turning
yellow. The herbicide was blocking photosynthesis in the grass
causing it to slowly die, much as laying a sheet of plywood on
your lawn will cause the grass to die if left in one spot. The
Roundup Ready soybeans have a protein introduced into them
to keep the herbicide from having a serious effect on them. The
long chemical name of the protein can sound intimidating to the
non-chemist, but it is derived from a substance found in the soil
and is simular to baker's yeast, among other things, not toxic to
humans. Roundup heribicide has been around for many years,
its 25 year patent already expired. There are less costly generic
copies on the market now. It has been extensively tested over
many years and is known to be safe. Most of the time the soybeans are only sprayed with herbicide one time, early in
their growth period. Sometimes excessive rainfall can make a
second spraying necessary. It is not done unless necessary
because it cost MONEY each time. After the soybeans are larger,
they effectively block most grasses from becoming a problem
because the grass doesn't grow well in the shade. (Remember
photosynthesis?)
OK, now a problem effecting small farmers like my friend. A lot
soybeans are now imported, many from South America. In the
U.S., farmers have to buy seeds from Monsanto to plant because
of the patent laws. Monsanto charges about $22.50 for each
50lb bag of soybeans which plants about one acre of land. He
sold his beans for about $5.32 per bushel (about 60lbs) this
past year. He cannot save part of the beans for planting the
next year because of the patent laws. The farmers in South
America are immune from U.S. patent lawsuits. They replant
seeds they saved and it costs them much less to plant their
crops. They also are blessed with a deeper and better quality
topsoil than my friend has and often don't have to use the
expensive nitrogen-based fertilizer that he has to. In other
words, it costs them much less to grow their crops. They can
sell for less and still make a good profit. My friend hasn't been
making money on his soybeans the last 2 or 3 years. He has
already stopped growing some other crops because he was
losing money on them. Many of his fields are now planted with
grasses for pastures. His cattle business has been profitable.
He hates to stop growing crops because that is how he was
raised, as a farmer. He is not a "country hick" as some have
sterotyped farmers. His equipment costs hundreds of thousands
of dollars and includes many electronics and GPS. My point?
Could we (the U.S.) become as dependent on foreign suppliers
for our food and agricultural products as we are now on our oil?
