The latest really scary paper regarding GMOs has been circulated widely on Twitter today, primarily by the usual suspects (Bittman, Pollan, and many others). The paper (available here, on the blog of the primary author Judy Carman) is titled “A long-term toxicology study on pigs fed a combined genetically modified (GM) soy and GM maize diet.” The [...]
Strange times indeed. I woke up this morning to find several folks in my twitter stream alerting me to an interview on the “Colbert Report.” The interview was supposed to be about the GM wheat found recently in Oregon. Near the beginning of the interview, Colbert asks (humorously) how the GM wheat survived, wondering if it [...]
USDA-APHIS announced recently that volunteer wheat growing in an Oregon field has been confirmed to be resistant to glyphosate. Reports indicate the glyphosate resistance is due to the same transgenic event that was used in Monsanto’s Roundup Ready wheat. More information from the National Association of Wheat Growers and Agri-Pulse. The good news is that [...]
This wasn’t really a surprise to anyone, but the Supreme Court released their decision and opinion in the Bowman v. Monsanto Co. case. The case revolved around a farmer purchasing soybean seed from a local elevator, planting the seed, spraying it with Roundup, then harvesting the seed to plant the following season. He did this for [...]
In the latest issue of Nature, Natasha Gilbert takes “A hard look at GM crops.” Ms. Gilbert states: “it can be hard to see where scientific evidence ends and dogma and speculation begin.” “Researchers, farmers, activists and GM seed companies all stridently promote their views, but the scientific data are often inconclusive or contradictory. Complicated [...]
The latest USDA-NASS crop weather report for Wyoming didn’t paint a very bright picture for the state. Winter wheat condition was rated at 38% good, 39% fair, and 23% poor or very poor. Yesterday, I was out looking at our winter wheat research plots at SAREC near Lingle, WY. I’d say my wheat strip falls [...]
by Andrew Kniss & Abdel Mesbah At a recent meeting in Powell, I was asked how to best use ethofumesate (active ingredient in Nortron SC and other herbicides) in fields that must be furrow irrigated for sugarbeet emergence. This is a difficult question. Ethofumesate (and almost all soil applied herbicides) require soil moisture to be [...]
A new publication from the University of Wyoming Extension is now available! The Wyoming Weed Watchlist Field Guide is designed to enhance prevention and early detection efforts of weeds not yet widely established in Wyoming. It was developed by students enrolled in the University of Wyoming’s Invasive Plant Ecology course of fall semester 2010. Each weed profile [...]
The Control Freaks are headed to San Diego for the annual meeting of the Western Society of Weed Science. When all is said and done, University of Wyoming weed science will have presented 12 different papers or posters summarizing a variety of research projects. It’s been a busy couple of weeks getting everything ready. We will be [...]
This little thought-piece was originally prepared for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup several years ago, but requests come in every now and then from different sources for it. I thought I would share here so it is more easily available. Every now and then I get a quiet weekend afternoon to take some time for myself. [...]