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High Country News reports:
[...] Scotts got permission from the USDA to plant larger fields for seed production. Farmers sowed 80 acres of bentgrass in Canyon County, Idaho, and 420 acres in Jefferson County, Oregon, north of Bend. The Oregon Department of Agriculture picked the site - an irrigated island in the sagebrush sea - to keep the plant far from the Willamette Valley. There, on the western side of the mountains, farmers grow forage and turf grass for a $1 billion-a-year seed industry.
Then two windstorms swept through the eastern Oregon fields in August of 2013, scattering flea-sized seeds well beyond the designated control area. Roundup-resistant pollen fertilized conventional bentgrass plants as far as 13 miles away.
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GMO Grass is Creeping Across Oregon
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Confess your sins to the Lord and you will be forgiven;
confess them to man and you will be laughed at.
-- Josh Billings
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Monday July 02 2018, @02:24PM (5 children)
Okay, I checked what does this word exactly means and it is
So it is not the same what I was thinking. Sorry, I was not aware of the "needlessly arousing public fear about an issue" part. It's not needless to arouse the public fear. I meant it's the same fear and the warning should stay, and the process of warning. But apparently the "-mongering" part means something different. I am also not sure about the "exaggerated" part, no specific info to measure.
So I have to use more words to describe what I meant. It's the same fear, it's the same warning. For some people (me included) the risk of spreading via natural means (seeds scatter, cross-polination etc.) was never minimal or non-existing, it was obvious this can happen, therefore in some areas it _will_ happen. It will get out of the expected "controlled" areas and from there on it will be knowingly uncontrolled.
My fear is actually this will enforce some short-lived monocultures which won't resist the test of time but until the rest of the ecosystem takes back there will be not enough for the grazers (us). That's actually the natural way of controlling the grazers popuation and in this case it comes well deserved with bonus karma. But even if it's fair I'm still afraid.
(Score: 1, Troll) by frojack on Monday July 02 2018, @06:56PM (4 children)
Even using more words, you've failed to state an actual risk to anything or anybody.
What the hell are you actually saying? Does it not make good grazing grass? Does it kill cattle or sheep? Does it kill off trees and other grasses?
What keeps you awake at night?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday July 02 2018, @07:43PM (3 children)
If you're trying to grow crops, it's a weed. The most commonly used weed control won't help you since it's engineered to be resistant.
And actually, it's a terrible grazing grass. About half as productive as other varieties. If I was grazing animals, I'd be pretty ticked off if someone's super bent grass took over the pasture.
Further, no trying to make lemonade. Someone else claims to OWN that grass except when you try to tell them to keep their pet in it's own yard.
(Score: 1, Troll) by frojack on Monday July 02 2018, @08:27PM (2 children)
This "terrible grazing grass" is fast growing, handles trampling well, and has been used as grazing grass ALL OVER THE WORLD for centuries.
It was planted by earliest settlers in north american colonies. Calling bullshit on your pronouncements.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Informative) by sjames on Monday July 02 2018, @11:25PM (1 child)
Funny, searching google for "bent grass grazing" comes up with a long string of articles about how to eliminate bentgrass from pasture land, and suggesting that it is of poor nutritional quality and inferior productivity. Perhaps you typo-ed?
for [vic.gov.au] example [thehorse.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 03 2018, @02:22AM
Your second example isn't a good one. It says "Nimblewill (Muhlenbergia schreberi) is a wiry, upright growing warm-season perennial grass that looks similar to creeping bentgrass and Bermudagrass in structure" and nothing more about bentgrass.