The glyphosate chemical was initially discovered in 1950 by a Swiss chemist, but seeing no pharmaceutical value to the substance, it went largely ignored until 1970, when a Monsanto chemist discovered its value as an herbicide and desiccant, as the chemical blocks essential proteins for plant growth. Fast-forward to 1974, when Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer hits the shelves.Though it’s always been a popular product, it’s only been in the past 20 years that the true potential of the chemical has been realized. What changed? The answer is probably sitting in your vegetable crisper right now: the proliferation of resistant crops, grown from Roundup Ready seeds. Engineered, patented, and marketed by—you guessed it—Monsanto.
In the 1990s, Monsanto began to incorporate a new product in its portfolio: genetically modified crops—selectively resistant to the chemical—beginning with corn and soybeans, gradually branching out into crops such as cotton, alfalfa, sugar beets, and canola over the next 20 years. These products—“Roundup Ready” seeds—are what really began to turn a profit on the company’s investment.In 1987, U.S. farms used an average of 11 million pounds of glyphosate. Today, that number has skyrocketed to 300 million pounds. It’s estimated that up to 90% of the GMO food (and cotton) crops in the world today are Roundup-dependent, and that the weed population is becoming increasingly resistant, resulting in farmers needing to use ever-increasing amounts of the chemical to maintain its efficacy. This phenomenon—dubbed the “transgenic treadmill” by researchers—has effectively created a “dual-revenue” stream.This has proven very lucrative for Monsanto, with its products being used in over 160 countries, resulting in over 1.4 billion pounds of glyphosate used in industrial agriculture worldwide every year. Last year, Roundup sales alone accounted for over $2.8 billion dollars in sales, outselling other chemicals like it at a level of 5 to 1. Since the weed killer’s launch in 1974, researchers estimate that worldwide, 9.4 tons of the chemical have been used in agriculture, for both food crops and textile crops. Need a visual? That’s about 2,300 Olympic-size swimming pools worth, or about a half-pound per every acre of cultivated land.
