We are trying to reclaim good quality land in the former Soviet Union, much of which has a major weed legacy from long term abandonment, and we use glyphosate to help us, which got me thinking. 
Glyphosate is a none-selective, systemic herbicide which means it’s particularly good at controlling perennial weeds but only when there is no crop present as it doesn’t differentiate between crop and weed (it does with GM crops but I’ll come to that in a minute).
We use it between (none GM) crops to help eradicate problem perennial weeds, I’m not sure how we could viably reclaim abandoned land without glyphosate.
In 2015 the World Health Organization said glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic” which led to many countries banning or restricting the use of glyphosate and many others still hotly debating banning the herbicide.
Glyphosate was first marketed in 1974 under the Roundup label and has been described as important for global food production as penicillin is for battling diseases.
Farmers initially used glyphosate for total vegetation control, similar to the way we use it in the FSU, applying it between crops, or before the crop emerged or to destroy pastures before reseeding, it wasn’t applied directly to a crop because it would kill the crop.
Later, it was cleared for use as a desiccant and farmers did start applying it to crops like wheat, to aid harvest, I remember farmers in the late 80’s using it when, to be frank, they really didn’t need to.
If that was how we continued to use glyphosate - for total weed control and as a sometime desiccant - then I’m fairly sure it would never have risen above the radar and been singled out as a potential problem.
But by the mid nineties, glyphosate resistant crops were being developed; this allowed farmers to apply glyphosate directly to their emerged crop killing all the weeds but not the glyphosate resistant crop.
This allowed farmers to easily and efficiently control weeds in their crops but the big change here was that glyphosate was now being applied directly on to food crops.
This led to a massive increase in the use of glyphosate on food crops but also as the go to weed control option in many diverse situations, from vineyards to municipal parks, orchards to private gardens, glyphosate was soon well and truly on the radar.
It now looks like the over use of glyphosate will lead to its restriction and ultimate ban and will make reclaiming good agricultural land a challenge, not to mention emerging farming systems that aim to minimize soil disturbance such as conservation tillage.
Once described as important as penicillin, it now looks like glyphosate will follow a similar fate; the indiscriminate and excessive use ultimately leading to it being taken out of reach of farmers, an invaluable tool wasted in the pursuit of short term gain.
