Please turn off your ad blocker to properly view this site. Thank you!
toggle menu
Our Work
It is often incorrectly claimed that genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant (HR) crops reduce soil erosion by leading to greater use of conservation tillage, the notion being that more intensive herbicide use with HR crops reduces the need for tillage to control weeds. However, the truth is that soil erosion rates in the Midwest have not fallen at all since 1997, precisely the period when HR crops were rapidly adopted on a massive scale. In fact, the flood of herbicide use with HR crops has triggered an epidemic of herbicide-resistant weeds, and farmers have actually increased their use of tillage to control these intractable weeds, meaning more--not less--soil erosion.
