WILL ZERO TILLAGE SURVIVE ROUNDUP READY CROPS? (Roundup ready volunteers).

We farm 40 miles west of Brandon and my brother and I have zero tilled for 18 years. Our main crops are wheat, oats, peas, canola, and grass seed. Most of our acres are in pedigreed seed production. We have an authorized seed plant and most of our seed used in from our own production. We do all our own seeding and harvesting. All our oats are grown for pedigreed seed. We have never planted RR canola, knowing the volunteers will be expensive to control. Half our canola has been for seed production over the last ten years.

In 1999 we noticed low levels of RR canola in the summerfallow we had due to a wet spring, but very few. We saw more in 2000 on a late seeded field. This summer was a different story with high levels on many fields in our area in fields never planted to RR. There was nothing unusual about 2001 in our area but we know now we are selecting for RR weeds in our present zero till system.

This is what we observed this summer on three farms in this area.

Gerry and Leigh Smith own this field, neighbours of ours. Smiths are seed growers and zero tillers who have never grown RR canola. This field produced hybrid seed canola in 1999 and durum wheat in 2000. This year it was seeded to hard fescue in last June. In spite of lots of glyphosate the canola is flowering very well. It was all over the field, but heavier behind the 1999 canola swaths. Genetic testing by Mr. Ron Rabe from Monsanto confirmed RR canola. The Smith family is not pleased and identified contamination on other fields as well.

This second field is chem fallow of my brother, Richard. This field was last seeded to canola in 1995. The first 25,000 acres of RR canola were planted in 1996 so this did not arrive in the seed. There were significant levels along one side of the field and scattered plants all over. These plants we see had three applications of glyphosate plus one-half litre 2-4D in July. Is 2-4D the easy answer?

This third field is my own. In 1999 it produced pedigreed seed canola. Last year I had an excellent clean crop of Barrie wheat. This spring the field was sprayed June 5 with .6 litres/acre glyphosate and seeded July 1 to meadow brome for seed production. It became apparent the canola was not dying like it should. Monsanto was contacted and Mr. Garry Brollund looked at the field July 5 and again July 11. Another half litre glyphosate was used July 11 followed by 2-4D Ester three days later with a check strip left to confirm our suspicions. I had Don Hodgson, the owner of Crop Tech Consultants in Rivers document the events on this field. By Sept. 1 my check strip had a RR canola plant count of three plants per sq. meter. In places it was thick enough to produce a crop. As the 2-4D did not completely control the canola it was necessary to swath the field on Sept. 7 to prevent seed set. We tested the seed harvested from the check strip we left in this field to see if it was also Liberty Resistant as we suspected. Mr. Lyle Friesen did the testing at the University of Manitoba in November. Mr. Friesen stated in his report "It was quite a shock to see your canola sample was double resistant to Liberty and Roundup. "83% of the plants were resistant to Roundup and 61% resistant to both." I know we have double resistance on other fields as well. Once we see Roundup/Liberty/Pursuit triple resistance we will have a weed resistant to more than 30 of the chemicals listed our Guide to Weed control. Already we have an extremely tough zero till weed that is going to cost us a lot of money to control in spite of never using the RR technology.

Once we knew we had a problem Monsanto was contacted. Mr. Brollund looked at the field July 5 and 11, and stated such a few scattered plants were no concern. Monsanto could not be responsible for perceived problems such as this as they are the result of poor management by farmers and a seed industry that can’t even supply pure seed. He did offer to pay a 4-H club to pick the few plants he could see, of course it was up to me to organize such a project as he wouldn’t have time. I informed him there aren’t enough 4-H clubs in Western Canada to handle this. On Aug. 2 Mr. Brollund and Mr. Aaron Mitchell visited the three farms and we did our best to make them understand our concerns. Of course their job is to maximize their shareholders returns so our discussions will continue this winter. We expect full compensation for now and the future. In the case Monsanto V Schmeiser, Monsanto testified in paragraphs 96, 97, and 126 they are controlling unwanted spread and removing undesired plants at their expense. Organic farmers, chem-fallowers and zero tillers should take note of this testimony.

We now see RR canola in so many fields there is no doubt it is on 100% of the farm and being selected as a weed under zero till. RR wheat will move into our crops just as fast but will be much tougher to control both pre-seed and in crop. Where the canola can be controlled in every crop except conventional canola or mustard, RR wheat will only be controlled in broadleaf crops, and poorly at that. Like RR canola, it will fall off trucks and combines, move by wind and water, be spread by animals, and move as an invisible weed through our pedigreed seed system. It will be unaffordable to control in our zero till systems. Like canola, it will be impossible to keep out of our fields and leave us with no effective, affordable, burn-off.

The canola in my grass crop cost 13.32/acre not counting time wasted. If there is canola in next years seed it may be rejected as the European seed market will not accept any seed that may have GM) canola contamination.

Now we can determine the cost to deal with RR canola in zero till on our farm

Present cost Additional Cost

Wheat 25.50 3.90 2-4D every RU pass

Extra RU

Oats 9.50 6.90 2-4D burn-off

More in crop spray

Peas 30.50 9.50 Amitrol with burn

More Pursuit

Canola 27.00 9.50 Amitrol? PDQ?

Grass Seed 6.00 5.00-10.00

Costs with both RR canola and wheat

Present cost Additional Cost

Wheat 25.50 9.30 Amitrol

1. Gramoxone plus

1. Select/Poast 2-4 leaf

Oats 9.50 10.00

Peas 30.50 10.00

Canola 27.00 10.00

TWO TILLAGE PASSES 10.00

Other costs.

• First, the loss of our seed canola business. Contacting companies are now looking elsewhere, even out of country to produce pure seed, as there is so much contamination locally.

• It is becoming difficult to produce mustard and specialty oils such as Nexera under zero till.

• Pesticide Free Production does not allow residual herbicides such as 2-4D for burn-off.

• Roundup Ready wheat will be inseparable from durum, barley and oats. It will be tough to grow them under zero till.

• There will be additional chemical to buy, and handle with the inevitable effects on operator health and the environment.

• At what point do we drop the chemical route and move back to tillage. Zero till exists because it is the most profitable system in this part of the world. When we started zero till in 1984 Roundup cost $24.00/litre. We couldn’t afford the burn-off so the crops failed. We are moving back to a situation where we can’t afford a burn-off. I spoke to a farmer this winter that has never grown RR canola but has switched back to wide sweeps to get the weeds his Roundup doesn’t. Already the term "Strategic Tillage" is cropping up at meetings.

• Roundup Ready canola has only been grown for 4 years on significant acres in Western Canada, less than one rotation on many farms. Our problems have occurred much sooner than I would have expected. RR wheat will be difficult if possible to control at all in zero till, especially when we have the combination of resistant canola and double and maybe triple resistance. Monsanto denies all this of course. Do we introduce RR wheat and risk losing zero till – all this to produce a crop that consumers and farmers don’t want, just so a chemical company can try to maintain sales?

• I don’t believe Zero till will survive the introduction of Roundup Ready wheat. Loss of markets will lower wheat prices. RR canola is already an expensive weed for me to deal with and will likely reduce zero till acres of some crops in my area, especially pulse crops. These effects will increase as double and tripe resistance increases. RR wheat will cost even more to control.