Read at :
http://planet3.org/2013/04/01/desertification-iowa-style-and-the-decline-of-the-monarch/
Desertification Iowa Style and the Decline of the Monarch
What we’re seeing here in the United States is a very precipitous decline of monarchs that’s coincident with the adoption of Roundup-ready corn and soybeans. The first ones were introduced in 1997, soybeans first, then corn. By 2003, 2004, the adoption rate was approaching 50 percent, The use of Roundup ‘has effectively eliminated milkweed from almost all of the habitat monarchs used to use.’ and then we really began to see a decline in monarchs. And the reason is that the most productive habitat for monarch butterflies in the Midwest, in the Corn Belt, was the corn and soybean fields [where milkweed, which monarchs feed on, grew]. Before Roundup-ready crops, weed control was accomplished by running a tiller through those fields and chopping up the weeds and turning over the soil, but not affecting…
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