If you haven’t done so already, you can now add glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, to the list of substances known to harm honeybees. As reported by The Guardian, new studies show that glyphosate damages the microbiota that honeybees need to grow and fight off pathogens. Since glyphosate is the world’s most-used agricultural chemical, these findings are significant in the search for answers to what’s causing the global demise of honeybees, researchers said. Other studies have shown that glyphosate impacts the bees’ larvae, causing them to grow more slowly and die more often.
The discussion on what is causing bee deaths doesn’t end with the herbicide glyphosate. Systemic neonicotinoid pesticides have made recent headlines, too, along with dicamba, which is used with Monsanto's Roundup Ready Xtend cotton and soybeans in conjunction with glyphosate. What’s worse, dicamba is now connected with major widespread damage to trees and crops that are near dicamba-sprayed fields.
Farmers and landowners whose crops and properties have been destroyed by drifting dicamba have complained, as have beekeepers around the world. Yet, Monsanto, now Bayer, continues to claim its products are the only things that can feed the world. In other words, Monsanto-Bayer wants you to believe that all this death and destruction is necessary in order for you and me to eat.
But nothing could be further from the truth. The real answer to feeding the world and saving the planet, for that matter, is to slash pesticide and herbicide usage and revert back to regenerative ways of farming that include crop rotation, mechanical weeding, planting of cover crops and other nonchemical forms of pest control.
It’s also critically important to recognize that planting a variety of crops is key toward restoring soil health and ultimately feeding the world. You can play your own part by reducing the use of chemical pesticides in your home and garden and supporting organic farmers.