Mexico Allows GM Corn Trials To Proceed

Mexico has approved the first pilot program to plant genetically modified corn, a sensitive topic in the country that touts itself as the birthplace of corn and where small farmers worry the high-tech grain may contaminate native varieties. The Agriculture Ministry granted a permit March 8 to global biotech seed maker Monsanto to plant no

As Land Runs Out, U.S. Corn Yield Growth Must Quicken

For decades, U.S. farmers have helped feed the world by sowing some of the most versatile cropland, adjusting each year to grow a bit more of this and less of that, to replenish those crops in greatest shortage. This year, however, even with farmers planting nearly every acre of arable land, it will not be


Organic And Biotech Advocates Urged To Sort Out Their Differences

After months of prodding, Frank Valeriote has convinced organic farmers and growers of biotech crops to start talking to, rather than about, each other. The Liberal MP has persuaded representatives of both sides to meet this month in his Guelph riding and he hopes it’s the first of many such chats. He wants the two

Petition Started To Keep GE Alfalfa Out Of Manitoba

Manitobans opposed to genetically engineered alfalfa are taking their fight to the legislature. A petition started by the Manitoba Green Party is being circulated throughout the province to keep genetically engineered pesticide-resistant alfalfa crops out of Manitoba. “Manitoba needs to take action for change; we can be a catalyst for change and set an example


Monsanto GM Sugar Beets Can Stay In The Ground

In a partial win for global biotech seed maker Monsanto Co. , a U.S. Appeals Court has reversed a lower court’s order that called for the destruction of young genetically modified sugar beet plants, according to a ruling released Feb. 25. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found permits issued by the U.S. Department

Plant Pathologist Cites “High Risk” Of Glyphosate

Questions about the safety of glyphosate have resurfaced in a warning from a U.S. scientist that claims the top-selling herbicide may contribute to plant disease and health problems for farm animals. Plant pathologist and retired Purdue University professor, Don Huber has written a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack warning that a newly discovered


MPs Vote To Kill Market Acceptance Bill

Conservative and Liberal MPs voted Feb. 9 to defeat NDP Ag Critic Alex Atamanenko’s bill to require a marketing acceptance test in the process of approving new genetically engineered crops. But the issue of the future of GE crops, animals and fish isn’t going away. The Commons agriculture committee is in the midst of hearings

KAP Willing To Continue Paying For RR1 Soybeans

Manitoba farmers have expressed willingness to continue paying Monsanto to grow Roundup Ready soybeans even after the patent on them expires. A resolution passed at the recent Keystone Agricultural Producers annual meeting in Winnipeg calls on KAP to “lobby Monsanto to allow Manitoba farmers to continue to grow Roundup Ready 1 soybeans under a user


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espite all of mankind’s ingenuity, the weeds, it seems, always win in the end. Monsanto once boasted Roundup-resistant weeds were “highly unlikely” to be found, but now strains of glyphosateresistant giant ragweed can be seen growing 18 feet tall in Ontario cornfields, and some biotypes of rigid ryegrass in Australia have become immune to virtually

Little Gain For Farmers From Off-Patent Soybean

Monsanto should stop pretending it’s doing farmers any favours in the upcoming expiry of a patent on a genetically engineered soybean, says Bob Friesen, president of Farmers of North America Strategic Agriculture Institute. “Farmers are sick and tired of these empty promises,” Friesen, the former longtime president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said in