Illegal Monsanto chemical destroying U.S. farms

Monday, September 19, 2016 by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
Tags: dicamba, herbicide drift, Monsanto

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(NaturalNews) The audacious games Monsanto plays on this planet, manipulating genomes, manufacturing toxins and betting away human health, cause perpetual havoc.

Take for instance the herbicide dicamba. For decades this toxin has been licensed for use on grassy-type crops such as wheat and sod. Its use has been restricted elsewhere, especially on sensitive soybean and cotton crops. Monsanto is now turning farmers against one another, causing them to be fined for the damage that this herbicide is causing.

Monsanto engineers a market monopoly yet again

In 2005, as their original glyphosate herbicide was failing, Monsanto set out to re-engineer a market monopoly which would include a new herbicide called dicamba and corresponding GM seeds that could withstand the chemical. The biotech juggernauts tweaked their approach and engineered a dicamba-resistant soybean and cotton seed called Xtend, so that they could increase their control over the market.

Since then, farmers using the dicamba resistant soybean and cotton seeds have unleashed dicamba across thousands of acres of U.S. croplands. One of the biggest problems with this is that dicamba drifts easily, spreading to nearby fields and killing crops that are not genetically engineered to withstand the onslaught.

Monsanto has therefore created a situation of crop destruction and farmer division. Farmers are at increasing odds with one another now, because dicamba from one farm drifts onto others, wiping out thousands of acres of cropland that cannot handle the chemical attack.

Did Monsanto orchestrate this to force all farmers to buy into their dicamba resistant seeds?

One farmer named Landon Hayes, who grows earlier generation soybeans in Campbell, Missouri, has no choice but to switch to Monsanto's new generation of genetically engineered seeds. Hayes lost 500 acres of his crops because of dicamba drift. He is now trapped into buying Monsanto's newest version of the seeds and spraying them with dicamba. "They knew that people would buy it just to protect themselves," Hayes spoke. "You're pretty well going to have to. It's a good marketing strategy, I guess. It kind of sucks for us."

In this chemical-intensive method of agriculture, corporations like Monsanto manipulate farmers into desperate situations where they feel like they have no choice. This sadistic Monsanto strategy will only perpetuate the inevitable, forcing every soybean farmer in the Midwest to eventually fall in line with the genetically modified, chemically-intensive agricultural approach or risk losing everything they own.

Federal and state regulations forbid farmers from using dicamba on these sensitive commodity crops. The U.S. EPA has approved dicamba for use on 12 other crops, but not on soybeans and cotton. Monsanto is currently awaiting EPA approval for its most advanced version of dicamba, manufactured specifically for their newest lab development of Xtend cotton and soybean seeds.

Monsanto turning farmers against one another, burdening them with fines

Monsanto spokeswoman, Christi Dixon, blames the farmers for using dicamba on the Xtend brand line of crops. She claims that Monsanto took "extensive steps" to remind growers that it's illegal to use the chemical on soybeans and cotton.

Despite the corporation's warnings, their chemical has been used en masse, drifting wildly and destroying farms throughout the Midwest. Missouri alone has fielded 117 complaints regarding dicamba misuse. More than 42,000 acres have been adversely affected across the state.

Since Monsanto has blamed farmers for the dicamba problem, some farmers are starting to wake up to how the company plays them like pawns. Lawmakers levy fines on farmers for dicamba "misuse" ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.

For vegetable farmers the problem with dicamba drift is also likely to become an increasing burden, since they won't be able to turn to dicamba resistant seeds to save their farms. They will just have to endure the losses, as Monsanto profits from their position on top of the pyramid scheme.

It's a sickening form of control that must be broken.

Sources include:

Bloomberg.com

Science.NaturalNews.com