Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

GMO Grass is Creeping Across Oregon

posted by martyb on Monday July 02 2018, @11:17AM   Printer-friendly
from the just-wait-until-the-Ents-get-loose dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

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.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
GMO Grass is Creeping Across Oregon | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 58 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 1, Troll) by frojack on Monday July 02 2018, @08:27PM (2 children)

    by frojack (1554) on Monday July 02 2018, @08:27PM (#701564) Journal

    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.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   -1  
       Troll=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Troll' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   1  

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by sjames on Monday July 02 2018, @11:25PM (1 child)

    by sjames (2882) on Monday July 02 2018, @11:25PM (#701630) Journal

    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

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 03 2018, @02:22AM (#701695)

      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.