Bayer says it may stop producing glyphosate, the world’s most popular weed killer, unless it can get court protection against lawsuits blaming the herbicide for causing cancer.
“Yeah, it’d be hugely detrimental,” says Tommy Butts, Purdue Extension Weed Scientist. He’s a guest on the latest Purdue Crop Chat Podcast from Hoosier Ag Today.
“I’m sure we’d have to do some research into what the economics and everything would look like down the path here, but at least from a weed science standpoint, you know, we talk a lot about glyphosate resistance and how we’ve lost effectiveness on certain things, but glyphosate is still really good on a whole lot of different weeds. And it’s in probably just about every single mix that we have in soybeans and corn.”
The Wall Street Journal says Bayer currently produces about 40% of the world’s glyphosate needs. If Bayer gets out of the glyphosate game, it could be a big hit to farmers’ checkbooks.
“It doesn’t mean that we would completely lose glyphosate, right? It would Bayer that is shutting down their manufacturing in the United States. Depending on trade wars and other things, imports could still very likely be impacted too, but we still should have supply somewhere. But what does that do to the cost? Instead of being $3 to $5 an acre, maybe all of a sudden Roundup becomes a $20 an acre treatment, which would be just crazy to think about.”
Hear more from Tommy Butts as he joins ‘Soybean Shaun’ Casteel and Dan ‘Corn’ Quinn on the Purdue Crop Chat Podcast, exclusively from Hoosier Ag Today. Find it in our app or wherever you listen to podcasts.
