NPR

As Weeds Outsmart The Latest Weedkillers, Farmers Are Running Out Of Options

In the long-running war between farmers and weeds, it's advantage, weeds. Scientists in Kansas have found examples of the dreaded pigweed that are immune to the newest weed-killing technologies.
These Palmer amaranth — or pigweed — plants, seen growing in a greenhouse at Kansas State University, appear to be resistant to multiple herbicides.

There was a moment, about 20 years ago, when farmers thought that they'd finally defeated weeds forever. Biotech companies had given them a new weapon: genetically engineered crops that could tolerate doses of the herbicide glyphosate, also known by its trade name, Roundup. Farmers could spray this chemical right over their crops, eliminate the weeds, and the crops were fine. remembers that moment. He'd left his family's farm to study weed science at North Carolina State University. "I was trained by some really, really amazing people,"

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