Did Roundup Kill the Family Farm?

In the past fifty years, the boom in biotechnology has facilitated a rise in large-scale industrial farms in America, squeezing small-scale farmers off the land. Yet the nation’s giant swing toward industrial agriculture comes amidst protests by environmentalists, scientists, and farmers that small-scale family farming is in not only the most efficient, nutritious, and sustainable way to feed America, but is key to revitalizing its rural communities.

Ironically, nothing illustrates this point better than industrial agriculture’s baby, Roundup. Since its introduction by Monsanto in 1973, Roundup has become the most widely used herbicide in the US, with nearly 90 million pounds used annually on US farms. Though Roundup was its flagship product, Monsanto is also the world’s largest manufacturer of genetically-engineered seed, including its famed, patented, and prolific “Roundup Ready” crops that are modified to resist the herbicide.

Now, after a quarter century of submission, nature is finally taking its recourse against Roundup. Weeds resistant to Roundup have begun appearing throughout the northeastern US, the Midwest, and California, alarming both farmers and Monsanto that the product is growing less effective. There are few readily-available alternatives to Roundup because it has so long dominated the industry, so now many scientists are calling for restraint in using it and Roundup Ready crops. Amid concerns that resistance signals a new era of “superweeds,” more dangerous herbicides, and genetically-reengineered crops, the crisis highlights the many dangers of industrialization to American agriculture.

Roundup, known by most of us as a backyard weedkiller, is in fact the most sold agricultural chemical of all time. (Interesting fact: one of the largest all-time consumers of Roundup was said to be the US government, which aerially sprayed the herbicide over large parts of South America in an effort to eradicate coca crops.) Known generically as glyphosate, Roundup was truly an ingenious product – low-toxicity, no resistance, but requiring regular reapplication to weeds. Monsanto’s second boon came with its development of Roundup Ready seeds in 1996, genetically-engineered plant strains that permit farmers to spray Roundup ubiquitously and leave only the desired crop to grow. The explosion of Roundup Ready crops such as soy, cotton, and corn caused the annual use of Roundup (and its generic competitors) to increase two and a half times, bringing the previously “resistance-resistant” herbicide onto millions more acres of American farmland. In 2003 the NY Times reported:

The problem, crop scientists say, is the very success of the genetically engineered crops, particularly the soybeans, which now account for more than three-quarters of all soybeans grown in the United States…Some scientists are concerned that the resistance could spread, rendering Roundup herbicide less useful. That would be a problem for farmers because glyphosate is by far the most popular weed-killing chemical in the world.

That would also be a problem for Monsanto, which in 2006 was still making a hefty chunk of its $6.3 billion revenue on Roundup and Roundup Ready crops. Before I go on, I must reiterate how shady a company Monsanto truly is. Famed also for such products as saccharin, Agent Orange, bovine growth hormone, and terminator seeds, Monsanto’s infamy stems from activities that include falsifying safety test results, intimidating journalists, lying about toxic superfund sites, driving third-world farmers to destitution and suicide, and aggressively suing small-scale American farmers for patent infringement.

What’s more, Roundup itself has been at the center of numerous studies claiming it causes cancer, miscarriages, and birth defects in rural communities, is lethal to certain wildlife, destroys natural habitats, persists in soil and waterways, and leaves toxic residue on food.

Such ethical dubiousness symbolizes the broader criticism facing biotech firms like Monsanto, along with major farming corporations like Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill, which anti-industrialization and environmental activists say have facilitated the demise of safe and sustainable family farming, and traditional rural lifestyles in America.

Indeed, in 1935, prior to the era of modern industrial agriculture, farmers still represented a fifth of the US labor force. The number of American farms peaked at nearly seven million, averaging 155 acres each in size. By 2005 (pdf) the number of farms had declined to just over two million, averaging 444 acres each, with the largest 1.5% of farms accounting for roughly half America’s agricultural output. After years of small-scale farmers and their families steadily leaving the land, farmers today only represent 2% of the population, and the average American farmer is 55 years-old.

Nevertheless, where they have survived family farms represent the mainstay of small-scale, organic agriculture in America, providing a plethora of widely-observed social benefits. Their role in rural economies and communities is vital. As the website Sustainable Table explains:

In addition to providing jobs to local people, family farmers also help support small businesses by purchasing goods and services within their communities. Meanwhile, industrial agriculture operations employ as few workers as possible and typically purchase supplies, equipment, and building materials from outside the local community. Rural areas are then left with high rates of unemployment and very little opportunity for economic growth.

Meanwhile, the myths surrounding the benefits of industrial food production have been largely debunked. Contrary to “industry” proponents who claim large-scale is the only efficient way of feeding the masses, research has shown over and over that smaller-scale actually produces higher outputs per inputs. Food produced organically (something large-scale farms can scarcely hope to realize) retains more nutrients and flavor and carries no toxic agrichemical residue, while the environmental benefits of small-scale farming are abundant. Again, Sustainable Table:

Perhaps most importantly, family farmers serve as responsible stewards of the land. Unlike industrial agricultural operations, which pollute communities with chemical pesticides, noxious fumes, and excess manure, small family farmers live on or near their farms and strive to preserve the surrounding environment for future generations. Since these farmers have a vested interest in their communities, they are more likely to use sustainable farming techniques to protect natural resources and human health.

These techniques include diversifying and rotating crops, using varied and natural means of fertilization and pest management, protecting soil against erosion and nutrient depletion, and often avoiding genetically-engineered crops (which are unlabeled in the US and remain at the center of aggressive world trade wars).

Such small-scale methods highlight how the dangerous spiral of stronger chemical herbicides and stronger resistance – indicative of industrial agriculture’s unwinnable war against nature — can be wholly avoided. Yes, family farmers keep food production “in harmony” with nature, by promoting human-scale, democratic, and sustainable farming practices that shift the emphasis of farming back to the quality of the food, the land, and the rural lifestyle.

Fortunately, recent years have brought a surge of consumer interest in organic, local, and environmentally-sustainable foods, on which small family farms are best poised to capitalize. They depend least on such bastions of large-scale farming as chemical herbicides and genetically-modified crops (though of course they suffer the consequences in the form of toxic oversprays, market marginalization, and superweeds). More recently, this backlash has been boosted by public outrage at the billions of dollars in annual government subsidies, intended to support America’s rural communities, which are soaked up by corporate farm owners and companies like Monsanto. Ironically, it is Roundup itself now leading the revolt against industrial agriculture, giving the small-scale American family farm a new lease on life.

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