You may think you know why you plant Roundup Ready soybeans, but do you really know why? You may say that weed control is easier, but would your subconscious agree? Lie down on the couch and tell the Doctor what you really think.

Obviously, most farmers like the concept of Roundup Ready soybeans. USDA’s planted acreage surveys each spring have indicated nine out of ten acres of soybeans are glyphosate tolerant. But do plant that type of seed just to avoid walking your bean rows? The real value in Roundup Ready beans was the objective of research by Olha Sydorovych and Michele Marra of North Carolina State University. http://agecon.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/pdf_view.pl?paperid=29022&ftype=.pdf The researchers say the widespread use of pesticides over the past several decades has resulted in concerns about threats to human health and environmental impacts and they say regulatory agencies are on the alert. With the cost of monitoring substantial, the researchers wanted to identify the positive impact that pesticide systems provide. Their investigation looked at the degree of pesticide safety, intensity, and duration of exposure, and estimated the impact of Roundup Ready soybeans on the welfare of the US farmer.

Assuming that farmers have a more accurate knowledge of pesticide risks to humans and the environment, since they not only apply pesticides, but are also exposed to their negative facets. One of their findings was that Roundup Ready soybean use results in the substitution of a single broad spectrum herbicide favorable to the environment instead of a variety of other herbicides which might vary in their environmental impact. “If one considers herbicide relative toxicity information in addition to the information on the application volume and the number of applications, RR soybeans show an improvement in the environmental “footprint” brought about by their adoption, which should have an impact on the welfare of farmers.” The North Carolina State economists believed that farmers are concerned about herbicide impacts on their own health, their family and employees’ health, and the impact on soil and water, including fishing, hunting, swimming, and other recreational activities.

Among their findings are that farmers were willing to pay up to $10 per acre per year to avoid high risk to chronic human health, and willing to pay $3.35 per acre per year to avoid a high risk of surface water pollution. They say the adoption of Roundup Ready soybeans, on average, resulted in an on-farm herbicide risk reduction in all risk categories. Adoption of the Roundup Ready system reduced the financial risk down to 50¢ per acre per year for acute human risk reduction, 93¢ per acre per year for chronic human risk reduction, and 33¢ per acre per year for surface water risk reduction. The researchers say, “In our analysis, the farmer associated positive values with reduced herbicide risk to human health, as well as with reduced risk of surface water pollution. Because RR soybean adoption, on average, results in on-farm reduction in these risks, we expect some positive impact on the welfare of the farmers. The aggregate impact on the welfare of U.S. soybean farmers was estimated to have been a little over $90 million in 2001 alone.”

Summary:
While the overt reason for using Roundup Ready technology is the use of one herbicide to control all weeds without harm to the soybean crop, there apparently are covert reasons for using Roundup. Those include a desire to use a pesticide that has a low risk of creating acute or chronic health problems in humans, and a low risk of causing surface water contamination. For those benefits, farmers have established financial values and those values are more than covered by the Roundup technology.