Economic Analysis of Roundup-Ready Soybeans :: Agriculture Economics Essays

Economic Analysis of Roundup- instal Soybeans In 1974, Monsanto Corporation registered the chemical glyphosate for agricultural use in the United States. Monsanto marketed glyphosate, other than known as Roundup, as a broad-spectrum herbicide designed to putting to death a wide variety of annual and perennial grasses, sedges, broad-leaf weeds, and woody shrubs (Mendelson, 1998). Glyphosate kills much(prenominal) a huge assortment of plants and weeds by inhibiting the creation of EPSP synthase, an enzyme in plants that is required to synthesize the amino acid phenylalanine (Kliener, 1998). Deprived of phenylalanine, plants cannot make the proteins undeniable for life, so these plants weaken and die. Since glyphosate kills nearly anything green, farmers have been forced to use Roundup as either a pre-emergence herbicide or a weed grampus around the borders of their planting area to avoid killing their technical shop (Sij and Stansel, 1997). Despite farmers inability to sp ray glyphosate right away on conventional crops, Roundup became the best-selling(predicate) weed-killer in the world (Arax and Brokaw, 1997). In 1994, Roundup had net sales of approximately 1.2 meg dollars, comprising 17 percent of Monsantos total annual sales. However, by the mid-90s, Monsanto neared the qualifying date on its patent of Roundup, and faced the possibility of losing the production rights of this notes cow. Desperately needing a new way to continue to reap lucre from glyphosate, in 1996, Monsanto, through genetic engineering, introduced genetically modified Roundup-Ready crops, varieties of several commercial crops which are resistant to glyphosate. By inserting a gene derived from a genus Petunia that produced large amounts of EPSP synthase into the genome of several popular commercial crops, Monsanto created varieties of soybeans, cotton, canola, and corn which could produce complete EPSP synthase to overwhelm the EPSP inhibition caused by glyphosate (Kli ener, 1998). Therefore, farmers can plant the glyphosate-resistant crops and spray Roundup directly on their fields, thus destroying every weed and plant except their Roundup-Ready crop. Since glyphosate-resistant crops furnish the promise of a cheaper and simpler weed management process, farmers have adopted glyphosate-resistant crops at such an alarming rate that Roundup-Ready crops cover over 33 trillion acres worldwide (Mendelson, 1998). The advent of genetically engineered glyphosate-resistant crops has not only keep but has greatly expanded Monsantos market share in the realm of agribusiness. Since Roundup-Ready seeds are only resistant to the broad-spectrum herbicide Roundup, Monsanto sells a time of years worth of weed killer along with every Roundup Ready seed sale (Arax and Brokaw, 1997).