Glyphosate tolerant blue grass

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

A Kentucky Bluegrass cultivar that is tolerant of glyphosate is being sold to homeowners.  It is not a crop and not a food so neither the USDA nor FDA had to pass on it.  But, if it gets into farm fields, farmers may have to figure out how to deal with it.  The real issue is, there is not a systematic way to review such products if they don't fit in some neat categories.

http://www.farmgateblog.com/article/1521/the-development-of-gt-bluegrass-is-not-a-benefit-to-agricul...

"Summary:
 The development of a cultivar of Kentucky Bluegrass, which is tolerant of glyphosate, will soon be available for homeowner use, but that could spell a change for the regulatory process that has approved many crops. The grass is being marketed without the normal regulatory process, which did not have a category for something that was neither a crop, nor a food product. Future species seeking such approval may force local regulators to develop their own framework that could vary widely from state to state and county to county. " 

[Blacksandfarmer]

Jim I think we would be in better shape if we kept roundup out of the hands of homeowners. Roundup is being used by everybody these days and some wonder how we get such a variety of roundup resistant weeds. We just got RR alfalfa approved, now we add another roundup resistant crop..... Eventually we will lose this great weed fighting tool.

[k-289]

This happens to appear when a lot of theory was ""we have to much regulation""  --- another burden placed on the local gov. will be interesting---blue grass who would have thought ?

[Nebrfarmr]

I think that lawns and golf courses are some of the most over-chemicaled acres out there.  I find it funny that golfers are concerned about what a farmer sprays on his fields 3X a year, yet they freely walk across a golf course, that gets some sort of chemical applied to it every week or 10 days, all through the summer.

I'm also willing to bet, the local golf course gets irrigated with more water per year, than my corn does.

Homeowners are another concern, because I know all too well, that people who are putting on weed-n-feed, or something for grubs, will just 'finish up the bag' rather than use the exact amount.