Kristin Huizinga, Ph.D.
Chemistry Regulatory Affairs Manager, Bayer Crop Science
Expert Bio
I am an Environmental Microbiologist who joined Monsanto in 2006. Since that time I have been in charge of conducting studies to evaluate plant-soil microorganism interactions and soil microbial processes as part of environmental risk assessments performed for all our biotech products. Before joining Monsanto, I received my Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Michigan State University for research on the ecology of denitrifying bacteria in agricultural soils. I am currently Chemistry Regulatory Affairs Manager at Bayer.
Studies, Articles and Answers
Showing 4 out of 4 results
Question
A: Many claims have been made on the Internet that use of glyphosate-resistant (GR) crops and glyphosate can change the composition of soil because glyphosate is a strong chelator- a compound that can bind with metal ions- that will bind to micronutrients in soil. It is also claimed that this will increase the potential for disease to affect plants, or even cause new pathogenic bacteria to be present in the soil that can affect plant, animal and human health. These have all been used as reasons for why it would be difficult to grow a non-GM crop on land that was previously used to grow GR crops [...]
Environment Crop protectantsQuestion
A: Glyphosate herbicide enables farmers to use no-till practices, which have been shown to benefit soil health and minimize greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural soils. Much of the benefit to soil health is mediated by microbial communities. Many studies have investigated the effect of glyphosate and Roundup Ready (RR) crops on these microbial communities, including rhizobia and fungi. First, I’ll address the findings on rhizobia, which are important members of the microbial soil community because of their role in converting atmospheric nitrogen to an organic form plants can use (this [...]
A: Glyphosate herbicide enables farmers to use no-till practices, which have been shown to benefit soil health and minimize greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural soils. Much of the benefit to soil health is mediated by microbial communities. Many studies have investigated the effect of glyphosate and Roundup Ready (RR) crops on these microbial communities, including rhizobia and fungi. First, I’ll address the findings on rhizobia, which are important members of the microbial soil community because of their role in converting atmospheric nitrogen to an organic form plants can use (this [...]
Question
A: Glyphosate herbicide enables farmers to use no-till practices, which have been shown to benefit soil health and minimize greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural soils. Much of the benefit to soil health is mediated by microbial communities. Many studies have investigated the effect of glyphosate and Roundup Ready (RR) crops on these microbial communities, including rhizobia and fungi. First, I’ll address the findings on rhizobia, which are important members of the microbial soil community because of their role in converting atmospheric nitrogen to an organic form plants can use (this [...]
A: Glyphosate herbicide enables farmers to use no-till practices, which have been shown to benefit soil health and minimize greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural soils. Much of the benefit to soil health is mediated by microbial communities. Many studies have investigated the effect of glyphosate and Roundup Ready (RR) crops on these microbial communities, including rhizobia and fungi. First, I’ll address the findings on rhizobia, which are important members of the microbial soil community because of their role in converting atmospheric nitrogen to an organic form plants can use (this [...]
Question
A: There are really two answers to your question. If you want to know whether it is possible to transfer nitrogen-fixation genes to other bacteria, this can and has been done [citation] resulting in bacteria that are able to now fix nitrogen when they couldn’t before. If instead the question is asking whether it’s possible to introduce the genes responsible for nitrogen fixation in a plant species that does not already form a symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, the answer is, not yet. Researchers have been trying to give non-legumes (like rice, wheat and corn) the ab [...]
Health & Safety