Another step on the transgene-facilitated herbicide treadmill.

Transgenic, dicamba-resistant soybean and cotton were developed to enable farmers to combat weeds that evolved resistance to the herbicide glyphosate. The dramatic increases in dicamba use these crops facilitated have led to serious problems, including evolution of dicamba-resistant weeds and widespread damage to susceptible crops and farming communities. Disturbingly, this pattern of dicamba use has unfolded while the total herbicide applied to soybean has nearly doubled since 2006. Without substantive changes to agricultural policy and decision making, the next "silver-bullet" agrotechnology will likely be no more than another step on the transgene-facilitated herbicide treadmill. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.