(Editor’s note:  Oregon’s Willamette Valley is the world’s largest grass seed production area, an industry valued at close to $200 million annually, with worldwide exports.  The author of this report is a veteran of the lawn care industry.  Herein, he discusses how profit motives may supercede the sound progress of technology).

A controversial new grass seed may be coming to a golf course near you, despite the fact that its development threatens Oregon’s lucrative grass seed industry..  Created by the Scotts Company, this seed is produced with the same technology now widely used in food crops.  It allows spraying with a glyphosate herbicide, most commonly known as “Roundup.”  This  spray kills surrounding weeds while not harming the desired crop.
 

The U.S. chemical industry giant Monsanto holds the patent on Roundup and is a leader in genetically modified (GM) seed for such staple crops as corn, soybeans, canola, cotton and wheat.  Worldwide, there are approximately 130 million acres of farmland growing the controversial GM seeds.  The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) has just approved Roundup Ready Creeping Bentgrass for trial testing.  Bentgrass is perhaps the world’s most popular variety for golf course greens.

Keeping Greens in shape

Both homeowners and golf course greenskeepers have embraced the heavily promoted Roundup herbicide.  The product kills nearly all species of grass and broadleaf weeds.  Today golf green weeds are controlled by mowing, selective herbicides or spot spraying with Roundup.  Mowing greens to a 1/8-3/16” height prevents weeds from going to seed.  A noted exception is Annual Bluegrass, which will reseed itself at the mowed height, thus requiring that it be dug out or spot sprayed with Roundup and reseeded, yet it may resprout along with new bentgrass seed.
 

Scotts may have the problem solved.  By planting greens with 100% Roundup ready bentgrass seed, greenskeepers can spray the entire green, killing everything but the bentgrass.  Golf course maintenance folk will love it, but unless your home lawn is bentgrass,you may not like it.

Kevin Turner of Scotts reports that his firm will plant some 400 acres with GM bentgrass seed, within a 11,000 acre control area north of Madras in central Oregon.  A buffer space will be created around each plot to prevent cross-pollination.  the ODA states in a July 12 press release  that the Scotts test plots will minimize “the potential for cross-pollination with bentgrass being grown in the Willamette Valley” and adds “Scott is petitioning the U.S. Department of Agriculture to deregulate the commodity for commercial production with hopes of having the Roundup Ready variety commercially available in 2004…used in…golf courses where Roundup could be sprayed to control weeds without harming the turf.”

Scotts’ Turner says Roundup Ready seed buyers will be required to sign contracts stating that none of the seed would be used in the Willamette Valley.

Industry sees a threat

Bill Rose, owner of a major Willamette Valley bentgrass seed producer, doubts that test controls are adequate.  His company, Turf Seed Inc., has conducted studies showing pollen flows easily over a distance and he is concerned that the new GM grass will cross with his varieties, affecting sales to the European market, where many countries have banned the use or sale of any GM seed.

Rose doesn’t condemn GM technology, but urges caution.  He says “the future of agriculture is in genetic engineering.”  However, Rose practices what he terms “mule technology,” creating neutered male plants whose pollen cannot cross with anything.  Rose believes the Roundup Ready testing safeguards fail to address such dangers as strong storm winds, birds carrying seeds on their migratory routes and harvesting machinery tracking seeds off the growing plots.

Creeping bentgrass gets its name from the way it grows.  The plant sends out stolons, or runners, that then root and start a new plant.  Because of the way it grows, it is difficult to keep it within intended boundaries.  Homes that often line golf course edges are likely sites for bentgrass invasion.  Should the Roundup Ready grass escape its limited cultivation (most agree that, in time, it will), a naturalized variety could result that would tolerate being sprayed by Roundup…meaning that both homeowners and greenskeepers  would need a new chemical just to kill bentgrass.  Naturally occurring bentgrass is already hybridizing in the Willamette Valley.

GM efforts spreading

The USDA maintains an online data base showing who has applied for permits to test GM species of any kind within the United States.  This reveals that 35 applications have been filed for GM trials on turfgrass species.  Modifications include resistance to specific herbicides, growth rates and drought tolerance.  Many of these modifications seem harmless…after all, wouldn’t we all like to not have to water our lawns in the summer, or mow only once a month?  However, envision the potential damage if a GM drought-tolerant grass were released and spread into some of the dryer regions of our state.  Many slower growing native species may not be able to compete.  At one point, plans were underway to introduce Monsanto’s “Terminator” gene into grass seed, preventing the grass from reseeding itself, but the pollen could still infect other varieties, rendering a seed crop useless and destroying native varieties.  Public outcry has cancelled that program.

If the Roundup Ready gene spreads, all bentgrass seed shipped would have to be tested  and European exports could be banned.  However, GM grass seed has major profit potential for growers…and for the manufacturer of Roundup.  If Roundup Ready Perennial Ryegrass (the most popular turfgrass for Oregon residential sites) were developed, homeowners would enjoy excellent weed control with blanket spraying.Note that Monsanto owns the patents on both Roundup and the technology for Roundup Ready seed.

As a lawn care industry veteran, I support the need for advancement in horticultural technology.  I applaud the efforts of Monsanto, Scotts and others to simplify maintenance, reduce the amount and variety of chemicals used and conserve natural resources such as water.  I am not convinced, however, that the push for GM seeds has totally noble aspirations.  Roundup Ready bentgrass would make us more reliant on glyphosate products, and could result in a need for different chemicals to kill GM grass when desired.

© 2002 Doug Tankersly  Turf Seed facility photo is a link to their website.