Do farmers need to make more applications of glyphosate for a given result than they did 20 years ago?

Answer

Ninth Generation Farmer

Friday, 09/10/2015 11:39

Sugarbeets have been grown here in the Red River Valley region of North Dakota since the 1920s.

Prior to 2007, glyphosate was not used to spray on top of sugarbeets. Our growers had to use a combination of 3-4 herbicides that required four to five applications per growing season. We started planting Roundup Ready sugarbeets and using glyphosate in 2008. This has enabled us to make only two to three applications of glyphosate per growing season and we are now able to effectively control both weeds and grasses. We have identified at least 25 environmental benefits by switching to glyphosate, and our plants are stronger and healthier throughout the season.

For each application we use only 11 to 16 ounces of glyphosate per acre. This amount is the same volume as a standard can of soda and it covers almost the size of a football field.

Glyphosate is very effective, so all growers have been able to eliminate cultivation which conserves water and reduces the incidences of sugarbeet diseases such as rhizoctonia. Roundup has been safely used around the world for more than 40 years and has been approved by all major agriculture producing countries