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ISSUE 41
What is the Future of Glyphosate in Australia?
I n 2017, calls to ban glyphosate in the European Union (EU) by 2022 struck fear into the hearts of farmers worldwide. Commenting on the risks for Australian producers if the EU banned glyphosate, GrainGrowers CEO David McKeon stated in 2017 that such a ban “would have huge ramifications for modern agricultural production systems built around moisture conservation, soil conservation, and efficient allocation of resources. Many farming systems are built around the use of a small amount of chemicals such as glyphosate.” Legal Action While glyphosate is still registered and heavily used in the United States (US), legal action in America regarding the health impacts of glyphosate has created headlines worldwide. According to Forbes. com, as of May 2022, the manufacturer of Roundup, Monsanto, has settled over 100,000 Roundup lawsuits in the US, paying out around $11 billion. Currently, there are still 30,000 lawsuits pending in the United States. The recent announcement of a class action in Australia against Monsanto and its parent company, Bayer, for Roundup-related non-Hodgkin lymphoma casts further doubt over the future of glyphosate.
Dr Harm van Rees, and fellow researcher Anne Jackman, concluded that glyphosate usage is being scrutinised and, in some cases, restricted throughout the world. The study tour visited farmers, agronomists, and researchers in Europe, Canada, and Argentina to discuss issues related to using glyphosate and other farm chemicals, farm practices in general, the political environment, and how farming is viewed by the local and more general community. According to Dr Harm van Rees, without glyphosate, there is no existing answer to how we are going to feed the growing world population. “Conserving water, retaining stubble, reducing wind and water erosion all improve soil health and are achievable using glyphosate,” Dr Harm van Rees said. “Glyphosate also allows farmers to sow at the optimum time. Combined, these benefits radically improve yields. In our current systems, farming without glyphosate leaves our capacity to feed the billions vulnerable.” The introduction of glyphosate in the 1970s allowed farmers to move away from weed control, which relied on multiple deep and shallow cultivations. Instead, farmers were able to retain crop residues from previous crops and adopt minimum or no-till farming practices. According to Dr Harm van Rees, reduced use of tillage in Australia has greatly
Institute of Agriculture, Professor Alex McBratney, Australian agriculture needs to ramp up efforts to implement alternative weed control tactics due to growing glyphosate resistance. In 2020, Dr McBratney raised concerns about glyphosate resistance in Australia and stressed the importance of having three or four different alternatives to glyphosate to reduce agriculture’s reliance on one herbicide. “It’s a bit precarious to rely on a single herbicide, and the sooner we can have alternatives out in the field, the better,” Dr McBratney said. In addition, Dr McBratney raised concerns that “from a purely ecological standpoint, having the world’s food supply dependent on the use of this single herbicide is a fairly dangerous route to go down.” However, the relatively cheap price and ease of application of glyphosate make transitioning away from it difficult, according to Dr McBratney. “The irony is that it allows us to do the agriculture that we strive to do, to preserve water and carbon, but by doing that, we put ourselves in another danger—more of an ecological one,” said Dr McBratney. ‘Farming Without Glyphosate’ Study Tour An international study tour undertaken in 2022 by well-known Australian grain researcher and agronomy consultant,
Glyphosate Resistance According to the director of the Sydney
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