Kelly Ryerson restored her health by focusing on an organic diet. Along the way, she learned about the dangers of pesticides, launching a new career.
Known as the “Glyphosate Girl” because of her advocacy to alert the public about the dangers of the herbicide, Kelly Ryerson closely listened to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’s Dec. 10 announcement of a pilot program that will allocate $700 million to support regenerative agriculture.
The founder of the Glyphosate Facts website and co-executive director of regenerative farming initiative American Regeneration, Ryerson, is at the center of fighting Bayer/Monsanto’s efforts to gain immunity for pesticide manufacturers from lawsuits.
“Glyphosate and all chemicals and pesticides are definitely a problem. I would like to see glyphosate banned from pre-harvest spray, and in public places and schools,” Ryerson told The Epoch Times.
“But farmers cannot change their decades-long dependence overnight. Losing access to glyphosate could lead them to use even more toxic replacement chemicals.
“We’re on a pesticide treadmill. Encouraging regenerative agriculture is the solution.”
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) press conference on Dec. 10 that the pilot program will give farmers who are dependent on chemical and fertilizer inputs a financial off-ramp to help them transition to a model that emphasizes soil health.
The program aligns with the Make America Healthy Again Commission’s focus on addressing the nation’s chronic disease epidemic by strengthening the nutrient density in food and decreasing reliance on chemicals, Kennedy said.
Regenerative farming methods prioritize building and preserving healthy soils, avoiding synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, with minimal or no tilling.
Under the new program, farmers can receive direct payments, cost-sharing, and technical support when they implement cover cropping, reduced tillage, diversified crop rotations, improved grazing systems, soil biology-focused inputs, and other regenerative farming techniques.
The intent is to help farmers offset short-term costs and risks that accompany the transition from conventional to regenerative agriculture.
A billion pounds of conventional pesticides are used each year in the United States to control weeds, insects, and other pests, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Hundreds of millions of pounds are used in U.S. agriculture.
Throughout history, a variety of pesticides have been used.
After World War II, chemicals that were manufactured and used during the war were repurposed for agriculture. The insecticide DDT was introduced into U.S. agriculture in 1946.
According to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, DDT was originally used in the second half of WWII to control malaria and typhus among civilians and troops, and was ultimately banned from use in the United States in 1972 due to its adverse environmental and health risks.
Highly toxic herbicides, including atrazine and paraquat, were introduced by 1958 and are still used on U.S. landscapes and agricultural land today.
In 1970, Monsanto chemists Phil Hamm and John Franz identified glyphosate’s herbicidal activity and patented it for use as a herbicide in 1971.
The product, Roundup, was first sold commercially by Monsanto in 1974.
Today, glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in history, according to the Global Glyphosate Study.
In 1996, Bayer/Monsanto launched Roundup Ready genetically modified seeds, developed specifically so crops would be resistant to Roundup.
The use of glyphosate accelerated because farmers widely adopted the seeds, which allowed them to spray the pesticide on crops to kill weeds.
Today, 280 million pounds of glyphosate are sprayed on 285 million acres of U.S. farmland every year, according to the nonprofit Center for Food Safety, which advocates for organic and sustainable food.
“Glyphosate is everywhere,“ Ryerson said. ”It is in nearly all of our non-organic food. It’s in the air, and in the water. Parks, schools, golf courses, and many athletic fields are showered in glyphosate. If it’s so widespread and common, we should do everything we can to be sure it’s safe, right?”
