Superweeds And Self-Pollinating Peach Tree Threats To The Food Supply?

Superweeds spawned by genetically modified practices by industrial farms, small family farms, and backyard growers, continue to threaten our food supply safety and security.

Both organic growers and those concerned about food security will be dismayed to learn that stronger chemical herbicides are being introduced to combat the hard-to-kill gigantic weeds which have been plaguing farmers for the past several years.

In addition to the battle against superweeds, there is a  new agricultural threat emerging – the self-pollinating peach tree. Since our necessary little pollinators, honeybees, are dying off in record numbers, a self-pollinating tree is good news right? Wrong.

A Sherif Sherif research team has revealed that a recently gene in peach trees that allows the plant self-pollinate rather instead of relying upon an outside source to grow and reproduce. If the self-pollinating gene were inserted into GMO crops, it could result in their numbers contamination of farming lands across the country.

“The major concern in biotech right now is gene flow, which is transferring the gene of a transgenic (GM) plant into wild types or an organic farm,” says Sherif, whose study was published last month in the BMC Biology journal. “So in canola, for instance, there are herbicide-tolerant canola plants that are transgenic. The concern is that if this gene transfers to invasive weeds, this will result in superweeds that can’t be killed.

This happened about eight years ago in Alberta when they found wild canola plants that are resistant to three types of herbicides. Organic farms are feeling this kind of crisis because they cannot have any traces of GMOs in their plants. These farms are paying tons of money for that guarantee. But if they have a canola or soybean farm close by, and it’s transgenic, the pollen can transfer from miles away.”

The gene found in the peach tree plant prevent its flowers from following the natural course of growth and allowing its flowers to bloom. The plant was then left with no other option that to pollinate itself. When a plant no longer relies upon cross-pollination, honeybees and the wind will not be able to spread the plant naturally-occurring pollen to other plants. If the flowers of GMOs crops don’t bloom, then their DNA would be contained in their field.

The Sherif Sherif research team also stated that GMO plants and other biotech farming techniques are not accepted by the public, but are inevitable and likely will be needed to feed the planet by 2050. Those who prefer their fruits and veggies sans chemicals, emphatically disagree with the so-called “need” for genetically modified seeds and chemical herbicides in order to provide enhance the food supply.

“There is no way you can do this [feed the masses] through classical breeding, the kind of breeding you did 100 years ago. Classical breeding for tree fruits, for instance, takes at least 50 years in order to get one variety of peach or apple to be resistant to one pathogen. But with transgenic, it takes about a year. The question is how to take care of the whole land, and how to contain these plants,” professor Jay Subramanian, who was involved with the Sherif Sherif research project, said.

Superweeds, like GMO seeds and chemical herbicides, also do not appear to be going away any time soon. Superweeds are caused by gentically modified plants and glyphosate chemical herbicides, according to some agricultural experts and scientific reports. The superweeds are a growing problem for both professional farmers and those attempting to grow their own groceries. The huge weeds becoming more prevalent in pastures and fields around the globe.

Increased exposure to chemical pesticides and to herbicide-resistant crops is being blamed for the growth of the superweeds, says Natural News. One weed, the Palmer amaranth pigweed, reportedly can grow 10 feet tall at an inch per day rate and possesses stems thick enough to damage agriculture equipment.

For the past 15 years, many farmers have used GMO seeds that are genetically modified to be resistant to Roundup, a popular Monsanto chemical herbicide. Monsanto also makes the seeds, and they are dubbed “Roundup Ready.”

Weed management professionals are reportedly growing more concerned about the superweeds problem and seeking new ways to combat the issue. Some farmers are going back to the old-fashioned method of hand weed pulling or expensive mechanical tilling practice to combat weeds without using chemical herbicide.

The problems associated with herbicide-resistant weeds are spreading and intensifying, especially weed species resistant to multiple products, including the mainstay of 21st century agriculture, the herbicide glyphosate,” Southern Illinois University Plant Soil and Agricultural Systems professor Brian Young, said. “More than 200 individual weeds species have been confirmed resistant to at least a single herbicide, with infestations covering millions of acres in the United States and 60 other countries.”

Superweeds have become so prominent that the subject became a primary topic during a 2014 American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition, the largest science and industry society in the world. Some agriculture professionals note that the costs associated with battling weeds has doubled, and in some instances tripled, in recent years. During that same time span, crop yields have allegedly experienced significant declines.