Tag Archives: Roundup Ready Alfalfa

From the FieldProduct Considerations for Your 2013 Alfalfa Crop

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March winds have been roaring like a lion. But soon the weather will become gentle like a lamb, and Midwest farmers will be planting the 2013 crop. That’s why today I’d like to spend a few minutes highlighting alfalfa packages available for the 2013 season.

You’ll see we’re offering many exciting new products! Latham Hi-Tech Seeds offers the diversified genetic selection of alfalfa with the most modern packages for disease resistance, traffic tolerance, and regrowth patterns.

Growers can select alfalfa products designed to handle specific environmental challenges that present on your acres:

  • Roundup Ready® alfalfa can clean up fields with heavy weed infestations;
  • Resistance to Aphanomyces Race 2 keeps plants healthy;
  • Salt-tolerant alfalfa is bred to handle unique soil challenges;
  • Hybrid alfalfa offers top quality and fast regrowth that’s especially critical for dairy operations;
  • Leafhopper-resistant alfalfa boasts a natural leafhopper barrier keeping plant alive and healthy; and
  • Branch-rooted alfalfa maintains the fragile root system in challenging wet soils.

We want to set your alfalfa seed for success with fast emergence and amazing yield potential. Latham Hi-Tech Seeds is driven to discover new products, methods, testing, that will help create more yield for you!

Remember to contact your local Latham® representative for spring needs of alfalfa. Remember that Latham Hi-Tech Seeds has many A-list products available to meet your in-season needs for seed corn and soybeans, too.

From the FieldUSDA Approves Roundup Ready® Alfalfa Without Conditions

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The ag community breathed a sigh of relief last Thursday when the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the deregulation of Roundup Ready Alfalfa without conditions. As a result, Roundup Ready Alfalfa will be available for spring 2011 planting.

“This is really a win for farmers across the country as the UDSA’s handling of Roundup Ready Alfalfa could have set an unwelcome precedent for other biotechnology-derived crops,” says John Latham, president, Latham Hi-Tech Seeds.

The USDA’s Jan. 27th decision was the final step in an extensive environmental review process that took 46 months to complete. For additional background information about this process, visit http://www.roundupreadyalfalfa.com/.

For alfalfa growers’ perspective on the benefits of Roundup Ready alfalfa, check out these two blog posts:

From the FieldUSDA’s Handling of GT Alfalfa is Bigger Than Roundup®: The Future of R-I-B and Other Seed Technologies Are Threatened

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 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), for the first time in history, is considering placing limits on where, when and how glyphosate-tolerant (GT) alfalfa can be planted. At first glance, once might dismiss this by saying, “Roundup Ready Alfalfa would only be planted on a small number of acres. It’s not that big of a deal.”

It is a big deal, however, when you consider the precedent this would set for other biotechnology-derived crops. In 2009, there were 158 million acres of biotech crops planted in the United States, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications.

For 25 years, the United States regulatory system for biotechnology has been the world leader based on a consistent, science-based decision-making process. We must act now to ensure the regulatory status of GT-alfalfa does not threaten the U.S.’ status as a world leader in agriculture.

Science, not politics, should be the driving factor in the USDA’s handling of GT-alfalfa. Perhaps the Wall Street Journal, in a Review and Outlook piece published Dec. 27, 2010, stated it best when it printed:

“While it may not be one of the major biotech crops, alfalfa is a regulatory test that could open the gate for similarly politically driven negotiations on non-organic crops from sugar beets to soybeans. If nonscience criteria are introduced as considerations for allowing the sale of biotech crops, the effect would be disastrous for the USDA’s regulatory reputation. We hope Secretary Vilsack makes his decision based on science, not politics.”