MEMPHIS, March 30 (UPI) -- Ten years after Monsanto introduced bio-engineered seed that made crops immune to Roundup, the U.S. price of the herbicide is growing fast, farm analysts say.
More price hikes are on the way and farmers are stocking up, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Sunday.
"All the farmers that use Roundup are trying to buy it," said Rex Manning, who buys chemicals and fertilizer for Stoneville experiment station in Mississippi. "I heard one fellow was trying to buy 1,000 gallons, and they wouldn't sell it to him. They told him they had to wait to see what the final price was going to be."
Rising Roundup prices are drawing particular attention in the South, where more than 95 percent of cotton and soybean farmers pay a premium for seed engineered to withstand the herbicide, the newspaper reported.
On Sept. 15, 30 gallons of Roundup Weathermax cost $1,570.50. On March 1, the same product was going for $2,409, said Robert Hayes, superintendent of the University of Tennessee's Jackson Experiment Station.
"Co-ops and distributors are reluctant to talk about price because it depends on how good a customer you are. They don't all pay the same price, and if you prepay, you're get a better deal," he said.
