If you don’t see them in your area, you will undoubtedly see them on Twitter: yellow-colored fields, which have been treated with glyphosate. This product is super effective as a weed killer and is permitted in the EU, but the concerns about environmental and health damage are enormous.
What is Glyphosate?
Glyphosate is a weed killer, which you may know by the brand name Roundup. Until 2000, chemical company Monsanto (more on that later) was the only one allowed to sell glyphosate; after that the patent expired and since then there are all kinds of different pesticides containing this substance on the market.
When a plant comes into contact with glyphosate, it can no longer produce nutrients and withers. The dead grasses and herbs provide the characteristic yellowish color; the glyphosate itself is colorless and odorless.
Why do I see a lot of those yellow fields in the spring?
Because at that time farmers had to get rid of one crop in order to sow the next. “We mainly use it to spray grassland to death, so that another crop can be used, such as potatoes or corn,” explains arable farmer Johan Emmens from Rolde. He exchanges part of his land with a cattle farmer, who grows grass there. When Emmens uses the land itself again the following year, the grass must be removed first.
He kills it with glyphosate and then plows it underground. “Preferably as early as possible, so that the minerals from the grass can serve as nutrients for the new crop this year.”
Is that possible without glyphosate?
In itself, yes, but according to Emmens it often doesn’t work really well. “When you talk about alternatives, you can look at other chemical agents on the one hand. They all have worse papers than glyphosate. They work less well, and they are much worse for aquatic and soil life.”
The other alternative is mechanical. “Then you first have to work the sod with the cultivator, hope that you get it fine enough, and then plow it.” Organic farmers, who work without chemicals, always do it this way; Emmens is not charmed by it. ,,Especially when it is as wet as this spring, that is an incredible amount of work: by the time you have finished plowing, new grass will appear and you can start all over again. Or the soil is too wet to work. Moreover, you use about three hundred liters of diesel per day with your tractor.”
Nevertheless, alternatives are being sought diligently. Minister Piet Adema of Agriculture has made new subsidies available for promising methods. He wants to get rid of glyphosate in the long term, because the drug is controversial, to say the least.
What are the glyphosate concerns about?
All kinds of critics, from scientists and the World Health Organization to the trade union FNV and nature organizations such as Greenpeace and Milieudefensie, warn against products containing glyphosate. They can be harmful to nature, and in humans they could lead to diseases such as cancer and Parkinson’s.
There are also studies contradicting all those adverse effects, mostly done by the chemical industry. Manufacturer Monsanto has always maintained that glyphosate is safe. From internal documents, the ‘ Monsanto Papers ‘, it turned out a few years ago that Monsanto experts were not so sure about that in private.
“The fact that the maker approves his own product before it comes onto the market is actually the source of the evil. They then reject independent scientific research, they question it or they call it statistically irrelevant”, says Margriet Mantingh from Assen, the chair of Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Netherlands. The foundation urges the Dutch regulator Ctgb to no longer allow crop protection products containing glyphosate.
“According to European legislation, a substance must be banned in case of doubt,” says Mantingh. This precautionary principle is often not enforced in practice. We have already had so many substances that were approved, but later turned out to be very harmful. Think of imilacoprid, the bee venom that killed so many insects.”
What do farmers think of all these objections?
According to a poll by Akkerwijzer.nl and Melkvee.nl, a significant part of the agricultural sector would at least look for alternatives to glyphosate, either because of social pressure or because they themselves have concerns about the product. Yet there are also many farmers who insist that there is nothing wrong with it.
,,I’m not worried about it myself”, says Johan Emmens. “There is no substance that has been researched as thoroughly as glyphosate. The IARC (part of the WHO that conducts cancer research, ed.) has put it on a list of possible carcinogenic substances, yes, but alcohol is also on that list. The European regulator EFSA and the American FDA see no indications of cancer. Believe me: glyphosate is a lot safer than the stuff that the average Dutchman has in his sink cabinet.
According to him, the criticism of glyphosate is mainly about imaging. “Those yellow fields are very visible and to the layman they probably look worrying. But then people start shouting about it without knowing anything about it.”