New York — The rapid growth of Monsanto’s new genetically modified (GM) seeds, resistant to the controversial herbicide dicamba, has revived worries about the company’s stranglehold over farming during a period of industry consolidation. Long a producer of dicamba, last year Monsanto introduced GM cotton and soybean seeds that can resist the weed killer. The products took off, amassing more than 20% of US soybean fields and 50% of US cotton fields in just two years, according to Monsanto data. The seeds are popular because they boost yield on farms, and some consumers also use dicamba in their fields to get rid of weeds that have become resistant to other herbicides. However, dicamba is controversial in the US farm belt amid complaints that neighbouring crops have been damaged by the herbicide. Now, some farmers say they are being forced to use the new GM seeds to guard against dicamba. Nathan Reed, a farmer in Marianna, Arkansas, whose crops were damaged by dicamba from fields more...
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