In early September, Monsanto officials announced price reductions of $6 to $10 per gallon for Roundup herbicide products. At the same time, technology fee increases were announced for Roundup Ready soybeans.

But even if you are not sold on growing bioengineered varieties of corn, soybeans or cotton, weed control costs for no-tillers who use Roundup products have gone down dramatically.

More No-Till Acres Coming?

Monsanto officials say this price reduction on Roundup Ultra, Roundup Pro, Roundup Ultra RT and other Roundup brand herbicides should encourage more farmers to adopt sustainable, soil-saving conservation tillage practices such as no-till.

The company’s herbicide price reduction goal is to encourage additional farmers to shift to no-till by using Roundup products to control over 100 labeled weeds in more than 150 labeled crops by replacing tillage prior to planting with herbicides for effective weed control.

The price decrease also represents an opportunity for more efficient, environmentally sound practices using Roundup herbicide to replace mechanical vegetation control in a number of non-crop uses.

“Growers everywhere should see this as an opportunity to lower costs,” says Kerry Preete, U.S. marketing director for Monsanto in St. Louis, Mo. “This means great value for growers—a great opportunity for flexibility, creative solutions and expanded uses.”

More For Roundup Ready Beans

At the same time, Monsanto increased the technology fee for Roundup ready soybeans from $5 to $6.50 per 50-pound bag.

“The Roundup Ready soybean system provides great value to growers—with a lower overall cost per acre than in 1998,” says…