IowaWatch (https://www.iowawatch.org/tag/syngenta/)
Farmers have been using the weed killer glyphosate – a key ingredient of the product Roundup – at soaring levels even as glyphosate has become increasingly less effective and as health concerns and lawsuits mount.
Glyphosate is the most used pesticide on U.S. agricultural crops, with the nation using an estimated 287 million pounds in 2016, according to an analysis by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. And sales continue to grow, with market researchers predicting the glyphosate market to grow to $8.5 billion to $10 billion annually by 2021 up from $5 billion now. READ ALSO: Controversial Pesticide Use Increases Dramatically Across The Midwest
Of 400 pesticides used on agriculture crops across the U.S, glyphosate is used at least three times more than all others, according to an analysis of data estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey. The second-most used weed killer in the U.S. is atrazine – with 75.4 million pounds used on U.S. agriculture crops in 2016. In 2016, the Midwest used 65 percent of the nation’s total agriculture glyphosate use on crops.
Just nine of 30 agribusiness companies have followed through on a pledge to implement the Farm Bureau’s 2014 “Core Principles” for transparency in the collection of farmers’ data. Among those who have yet to do so are some of the industry’s biggest players.
When it comes to pesticides — including insecticides, herbicides and fungicides — in Wisconsin’s drinking water, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism found several health concerns in this investigation.
Although agriculture is a $31 billion industry in Iowa, it’s a topic absent from this election season’s share of presidential stump speeches. That’s not all too surprising, though. Instead of getting involved in presidential elections, major agribusinesses have historically chosen to pump their money into congressional races.
St. Louis-based seed company Monsanto has spearheaded a push for seed biotechnology, a Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting analysis of the USDA data found for this report.
Each year, state agencies and the federal government together send tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to some of the largest corporations in America, several of which are major agribusinesses. The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting explains.