Tag: The Blue Economy
Conflict Over A Blockbuster Farm Chemical
Not since DDT was introduced to U.S. agriculture to kill insects after World War Two has a farm chemical been as important to American crop production, and come under more scientific, political, and legal scrutiny as the weedkiller Roundup, and its active ingredient, glyphosate.
With the election of President Donald Trump, the conflict over glyphosate’s risks and benefits entered a new realm of confrontation that has the potential to alter its stature as the favored chemical tool in agriculture, the largest user of fresh water in the blue economy of Michigan and the Great Lakes.
Conflict over a blockbuster farm chemical
Glyphosate is the best-selling farm chemical ever in American agriculture. $2.8 billion in annual sales and roughly 280 million pounds applied annually on U.S. crop fields, most of it on corn and soybeans in Michigan and other Midwest farm states.