美国国家公共电台 NPR Is Fear Driving Sales Of Monsanto's Dicamba-Proof Soybeans?

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

When a product is successful, usually it's because people really like it, right? But some farmers say they are buying a popular new kind of soybean seed partly out of fear that if they don't, they won't have a crop next year. The soybean is resistant¹ to the herbicide Dicamba. And farmers say that the soybeans are driving other seeds out of the market. Now farmers are taking Monsanto to court, claiming this is an antitrust violation². NPR's Dan Charles has the story.

DAN CHARLES, BYLINE³: The biggest new technology on Midwestern farms these days is a new family of soybean seeds. The seeds go by the trade name Xtend. They're worth an estimated billion dollars a year to the company that sells them - Monsanto, now owned by Bayer. And Dennis Wentworth in central Illinois is totally onboard.

DENNIS WENTWORTH: 100 percent of the soybeans that we plant are Xtend soybeans.

CHARLES: These new soybeans have been genetically⁴ tweaked so they don't die when you spray them with a herbicide called Dicamba. Now Wentworth can spray this weed killer⁵ right over his fields of Dicamba-tolerant plants.

WENTWORTH: It controls the weeds. It kills the weeds. That's the bottom line. It doesn't affect the crop.

CHARLES: In just three years, these new varieties have taken over 60 to 75 percent of the American soybean market. Farmers say they've made the switch because Dicamba's better at killing⁶ the weeds. Some farmers, also Bayer, say the new seeds produce a bigger harvest. But a lot of farmers say there's also a third reason. For Randy Brazel in southeastern Missouri, it was the only reason.

RANDY BRAZEL: I just had to go along with the Dicamba program whether I like it or not.

CHARLES: Brazel already had his seeds ordered for next year - not the new Dicamba-tolerant soybeans. He was going to use other weed killers⁷. But then in mid-December, he got a phone call.

BRAZEL: I have a neighbor, a friend, who calls me. And he says, I am going to have to go Dicamba.

CHARLES: And that changed Brazel's plans completely because Dicamba has this well-known problem. It sometimes blows away after you spray it, across property lines into neighboring fields. Lots of people have tried to stop this. Chemical companies have reformulated the product. Government regulators have restricted how and where farmers can spray it. They've put these rules on the product's label. And still, Dicamba fumes⁸ have curled up the leaves of sycamore trees and millions of acres of traditional soybeans across the Midwest and the mid-south. So Brazel said, I can't risk it happening to me. He canceled his entire seed order, bought the new Dicamba-tolerant soybeans instead.

BRAZEL: Then I have to get on the phone and call every other neighbor and say, listen. I did not want to do this. But I am going to be forced to grow Dicamba. Well, then that forces all those neighbors to grow Dicamba. Well, then they have to call all their neighbors. And eventually, what you have is a monopoly.

CHARLES: Among the losers in this situation are seed companies that are selling competing products, like Rob-See-Co in Elkhorn, Neb. Rob Robinson is the CEO.

ROB ROBINSON: We don't believe in Xtend. We think it's too complicated. It's very difficult to meet the requirements on the label. And it causes too many issues with neighbors.

CHARLES: Like fights over damaged crops - Robinson says he's lost customers over this. Most of them, he says, want to buy Xtend soybeans at least partly to protect their crops from harm because their neighbors are spraying Dicamba. He says it's part of the sales pitch for these new seeds.

ROBINSON: At least on a local basis, they're being sold with this idea. So it's actively⁹ - part of the sales process is, you know, prevent...

CHARLES: Wait. What do you mean, exactly? You mean people selling Xtend are actually using this as a selling point.

ROBINSON: Absolutely, yes.

CHARLES: Seed companies will remind farmers if you plant Xtend soybeans, you won't see any damage from Dicamba. You won't have that conflict with your neighbor.

ROBINSON: Now how far that goes up the management chain within Monsanto and now Bayer, I can't tell you. But I know locally that it - that's the message.

CHARLES: Several law firms now have filed a lawsuit¹⁰ on behalf of farmers, arguing that Monsanto violated antitrust law by selling Dicamba-tolerant seeds. The lawsuit claims that the company understood that the risk of drifting Dicamba could drive competitors out of the market. Bayer has asked the court to dismiss that lawsuit. A decision is pending¹¹.

Bayer declined NPR's request for an interview about this issue. In its public statements, the company insists that if Dicamba's used properly, according to all the rules, it won't cause any harm to neighbors. It says farmers are buying Xtend seeds solely¹² because they offer better weed control and higher yields. It also points out that reports of Dicamba damage were down sharply last year after the company and other groups held hundreds of training sessions for farmers. The company's critics, though, say fewer crops are getting damaged, in part, because so many farmers have decided¹³ to buy Bayer's product - crops that Dicamba can't harm. Dan Charles, NPR News.

1 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

2 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

5 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

8 fumes   

n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体

参考例句：

• The health of our children is being endangered by exhaust fumes. 我们孩子们的健康正受到排放出的废气的损害。
• Exhaust fumes are bad for your health. 废气对健康有害。

9 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

10 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

11 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

12 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。