Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88Between Turnrows • 57 Chapter 6 • Roundup Ready® Many of the greatest scientific advances in human history began unintention- ally, and the glyphosate chemical molecule is no exception. First synthesized in 1950, glyphosate was originally developed as a water- softening agent and flame retardant. The chemical was found to have some weak herbicidal properties, but was not effective enough to be marketable as a weed killer. Monsanto Company research scientist Dr. John Franz was the first to develop and patent an analogue of the chemical that had strong weed-killing properties. The result was a chemical the company named Roundup. Monsanto’s Roundup was an effective herbicide, but it was deadly to most row crops. In the early 1980s Monsanto scientist Dr. Robb Fraley led a team that discov- ered bacteria that were resistant to the killing action of Roundup. Dr. Fraley’s team was able to isolate and splice this genetic material into other plant cells, making them resistant to the action of glyphosate. By the mid-1990s, Monsanto had developed soybean varieties that were Roundup tolerant and began making the seed commer- cially available to growers in 1996. Prior to 1996, St. Louis-based Monsanto was a diversified chemical com- pany. Mike Lewis, President of the company’s Corn States division, was a soybean breeder in Southwest Michigan and one of the original breeders to work with Round- up. “I remember how spraying all of those progeny rows that I had spent two or three years developing was a really uncomfortable experience,” he says. “I went home that night very nervous about it. I had planned some vacation, and I actually cut my vaca- tion short because I was convinced that when I got back all my soybean plots would be dead. I remember returning and walking out into the field and seeing all the weeds As farm size continues to increase, paper bags like the ones above in fall of 2014, are used less. They are becoming less common place by demand for bulk bags or bulk boxes.