Round Up ready Alfalfa?

[Rodjam]

Any of this in Canada yet. I know a guy with some in the US and he has just been given some interesting harvest guidelines.
Here is a quote from a posting he made on another forum.

".......the case is still out on monsantoes round up ready alfalfa. so far they won't let me plant anymore even if i had the seed then yesterday in the mail i get a three page letter about how i need to isolate this crop. first if your haying equipment gets used in non round up ready fields all equipment must be cleaned off with pressure washer or blower. next if taking hay down the road it must be tarped and all chaff collected when unloading. i must run three bales of straw thru my baler after baling in a round up ready field. all bales must have a label on the string saying that it is round up ready alfalfa.i am not to stack it with my other hay crops. i must also tell customers what it is and direct them to to follow the rules usda has set forth."

[kato]

I don't think you can get it here, and besides I think it's a really bad idea. Weeds shouldn't be an issue in a healthy stand of alfalfa anyway.

How do you get rid of this stuff when you want to work it up?

[grassfarmer]

Just think of the opportunities though: to create an absolute mono-culture at high cost and finally eliminate those pesky weed problems like dandelions!

[wilagro]

Rather than Round-up ready alfalfa, I would rather see a more frost resistant alfalfa. However, there is NO profit for Monsanto with that scenario.

I have grown tremendous crops of alfalfa but winters with little snow cover get me every three years or so. Very frusrating for sure.

I wouldn't plant Round-up ready alfalfa for any reason whatsoever. Weeds are not a problem but Monsanto IS.

[farmers_son]

Check out:

http://www.roundupreadyalfalfa.com/home.aspx?page=faqs

Roundup Ready Alfalfa grown in the U.S. can be shipped and sold into Canada but we cannot grow it in Canada. I personally think Roundup Ready Alfalfa is a bad idea altogether but why are we allowing the crop to come into this country when we will not allow it to be licenced and grown here?

[grassfarmer]

Wilagro, careful what you wish for. I understand that the GM corn was "modified" to make it more frost resistant by incorporating a gene from the artic perch - a fish. Yet Monsanto claim that GM technology is just doing what farmers have done since the first plant/animal breeders started selecting better strains. In fact it is something very different - and they wonder why people call it frankenstein food?

To quote from Monsanto on GM alfalfa the advantage is "The largest cost of producing alfalfa is in its establishment, and the gradual thinning and invasion of stands by weeds and grasses can reduce stand life to four or five years. A combination of herbicides may be required for control." Once again totally disregarding fundamentals of plant growth and management. Why do weeds encroach and thin alfalfa stands? not because we haven't killed the weeds but because nature always fights a mono-culture as they are unhealthy and unsustainable.
Anyone fancy some American nuclear honey? **Warning not to be consumed by people of child bearing age.

[jensend]

kind of makes you think monsanto doesn't know much about alfalfa. they sure know about extracting the maximum from producers and selling technology instead of knowledge.

[cswilson]

Maybe somebody could breed some RoundUp Ready EXT Angus then those damn little black quail wouldn't be soo hard to gather lol.

[brian99]

I wrote a post about March or April about RR alfalfa. I think it was in forages but I don't remember now. That's when the court case against seed replication companies affiliated with monsanto came out. The problem was that isolation wasn't proper for seed production, so now everyone is trying to figure out how to put the genie back in the bottle. Everyone is now questioning the original testing methods. RR alfalfa is not available in Canada and I don't think it should be. I like GMOs, but I think it is time for some new chemistrys

Wilagro, what is the dormancy on the alfalfa you are growing, and in what area?

[DogPatch]

I guess if they can breed all these Black Simmentals, then they should be able to get you your RoundUp Ready Angus!

[dalek]

The biggest reason we plant 200 acres (out of 500) of RR corn every year is alfalfa coming back. RR alfalfa, not for me.