GM wheat discovered contaminating wheat fields in Montana
 

(NaturalNews) A field of unregulated genetically modified (GM) wheat has been discovered growing wild in Montana, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced.

No varieties of GM wheat have been approved for cultivation in the United States, but this is the second plot discovered growing on its own in less than a year and a half. Like the last such discovery, the new discovery in Montana may have a serious impact on the U.S. wheat export market.

Much of the wheat grown in the United States is exported to Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea -- which temporarily suspended imports from the United States following the discovery of GM wheat growing wild in Oregon last year.

Wonder who Monsanto will sue since it was growing wild? I'm sure they'll find somebody.
hmmm…wild GMO wheat...

If one takes the time to actually read the article, it is clear that the wheat in question, was found ON SITE OF WHERE GM WHEAT WAS STUDIED AND GROWN.

Volunteer wheat is typical for many years when you grow wheat, so this comes as no surprise, at least to those of us who grow wheat.

Also, wheat is self pollinating: What this means is that the wheat fertilizes itself, BEFORE the flowers even open, so that pollen drift, the big, unfounded fear that is pollen drift, is or should be put to rest.

If I found volunteer wheat on my land, even if it had not been grown there for several years, I would not be surprised.

It is good they noticed, and alerted the authorities. As stated in the article, most of us farmers so not want gm wheat. Mostly because in the case of this crop, there are already economical herbicides available, and control of volunteer plants is cheap and easy without the glyphosate gene. Adding a glyphosate resistance gene is not necessary, which is why it was shelved in the first place: Monsanto correctly deduced it would not be a big hit with farmers...

Also, because of consumer anxiety, we do not wish to lose markets, rightly or wrongly.

Just a little bit of sanity in a panicky, sensationalist article. Stating the wheat is growing "wild" is a bizarre assertion: Volunteer wheat in a field situation, is completely typical: But to grab your attention, they use the term, "found growing wild" to capture ones imagination. Wheat can not grow wild, as in in a non-field situation. It just doesn't happen.

As a guy who grows a lot of wheat, I just thought I would share that all is not what it may seem.

Cheers folks.

I've never planted wheat but it was growing just outside my fence this summer. I'm guessing that someone out here used some wheat straw for something and it blew around and spread seeds. No matter how it got there, it was never planted.

i have seen wheat grow here wild along with rye and millets and other various items.


....even though as dale pointed out it was a test field...well explain it still growing there.....they need to burn it....or however it can be killed...if it can be killed........this shows how a previous crop can taint the next crop....what if this had not been "caught" and the seed here used at another site.


this is an issue i have...read this part of article....notice its the USDA and MSU talking here not the hated natural news site...lol

Press releases from the USDA and from Montana State University attempted to downplay concerns over genetic contamination. For example, the university noted that the wheat was discovered before it had produced pollen. Yet, if the wheat growing in the fields dates back to Monsanto's clinical trials, it could have been growing and spreading pollen there for as long as 14 years already.

Again, wheat is self pollinated. And growing wild means different things to different people. Throw some seeds on some relatively bare dirt, yes it will grow, but throw some seeds in the grass, the forest, a marsh, a meadow with natural plants: It will take a miracle for it to reproduce. Wheat is not about to become a wild thing.

Killing wheat is easy. It is not a tough plant, rr or not. Yes, they will get rid of it, and I am glad of that as a farmer.

Well rats…I really wanted to see who Monsanto would sue this time!

Growing wild, to me, means growing unplanted without human assistance/protection/watering. Basically like a weed.

All crops do this under farming conditions. It is called "volunteer". Yes, volunteer crops are definitely weeds. Volunteer crop growth is often the most critical type of weed to be prepared to control, because they are often at a very high density.

Sorry bout that! Who did they sue last time?

Under farming conditions I'd expect it. The front of my property has.never been farmed. We have lots of marigolds that popped up in the garden this year. I also found 3 Thai pepper plants growing in my corn.

So you have wheat growing in your garden? How do you think it got there? Is it in a soil disturbance area, IE garden, or in lawn?

We have wheat popping up along every road side in the country. That doesn't make me think it is "wild" It makes me think that some farmer was being lazy and didn't cover his load of grain as he drove by.
As kids, my sister and I moved some road side wheat to a flower bed at my parent's house. Every now and again, the entire bed is covered in golden wheat by mid summer. But, that is just proof that my Mom doesn't pull weeds often enough.

This is a garbage article published by a garbage website with no basis in fact, no peer review and no credibility. Why?

No joke !

Visions of volunteer tomato, cucumber and sunflowers popping up in my pasture keeps me awake at night.

It's critical I tell you.

Do you depend on the land for your living? Must you grow a crop or livestock to create revenue for your family income?

If you did, volunteer plants would indeed matter.

But if you play homesteading, and volunteer plants have no impact on your family income, of course they are benign.

Any farmer who's field tests positive for the Monsanto DNA.

When I wasn't playing I grew "crops" for income all summer. Cows, pigs and chickens for eggs, too. ;)

That is false. The farmer has to have been intentionally keeping back his own seed. It does not cover natural drift.

Hello Farmer Dale, I am not going to argue with you. I have my own opinion and facts about Monsanto. End of discussion on my part

No I don't have wheat in my garden. I've never grow wheat. We're in the desert so no lawn either. It's growing just outside my fence with the tumble weeds. There's an alfalfa field 3 miles north of me but there are no other farms up wind of us. Most are several miles down wind. The only way I can think of for it to be here is our strong spring winds carried it from somewhere.

Or maybe it's not wheat?

I have no idea why when a professional, full time farmer tries to explain how things really work, people are more willing to believe things they read on the internet, written by people that don't have the background to know what they are talking about, and are only interested in their own agenda.