Will weedkiller be rounded up?

SWATHES of the countryside will soon be turning what many consider to be an unpleasant shade of orange, the result of spraying fields with glyphosate (Roundup) to kill weeds before drilling an autumn crop. However, farmers may have to think again about using this effective, but controversial herbicide following a recent study. Researchers at the Ramazzini Institute in Italy found that rats developed multiple types of cancerous tumours when exposed to currently permitted levels of glyphosate. The EU has asked for the raw data so it can decide if dosage rates should be changed; current UK regulations expire in December 2026.

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Over the years, there have been calls for a total ban of the weedkiller and there is little doubt that continuous spraying is bad for biodiversity. The dichotomy is that the regenerative-farming movement is dependent on its pre-drilling application (only organic certification bans glyphosate use) because of the switch from ploughing—which buries weeds—to zero or minimal tilling, which typically requires spraying them. However, regenerative principles use far fewer chemicals in total over the farming year.