Bingham County farmers who eyed the 1945 newspapers found a bit of promising news that somewhat assuaged the terrible events of World War II (and before that, the Great Depression). A new chemical was being trialed, one that could be applied over some crops, particularly grains and grasses, without damaging them but which killed most annual and some perennial weeds. 2-4-D looked like an answer to decades of failed prayers.
When late nineteenth century farmers first broke ground in Southeast Idaho few weeds existed, the native species that might compete with their crops having evolved for physical circumstances unrelated to the fast and drastic techniques of agriculture. But without pure seed regulations, species from Asia, Europe and the eastern U.S. accompanied grains and hay brought by immigrants to the newly worked lands. It didn't take long for the settlers' initial honeymoon with the land to become a constant trial fighting the newcomer weed species.
Add to the influx of invasives the lackadaisical efforts of speculators, who made claims on ground and "proved up" by scratching the soil just enough to give the impression of caretaking an acreage, and you had a prime situation for weeds to thrive. Dry farming techniques, too, even by the well-intentioned and diligent, didn't fit the climate, so farmers were often preparing seed beds for their enemies, those weeds brought by their own seedstock and their neighbors' poor habits. By 1910, cheatgrass was well entrenched in southern Idaho and bindweed was already a problem. Unwanted grasses and ragweed followed suit, along with a host of other species like wild oats, sweet clover, and black medic.
Short of the hoe and other cultivating techniques, farmers had few weapons against these weeds. For decades they used carbon bisulphide, a temporary soil sterilant, and sodium chlorate, a nearly permanent one, for the most troublesome spots. 2-4-D, (the D stands for dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) was more selective and less permanent in nature, and seemed almost a panacea for a long suffered headache. Still, the first reports of its used urged caution, noting alfalfa had been killed by spray drift. Some farmers made the mistake of applying it on potato crops, severely stunting them. Proponents also prematurely claimed that it worked on morning glory (field bindweed) and Canadian thistle--which it does in fact burn to the ground but does not kill, both species regrowing within days of application.
2-4-D's history, upon perusal, seems almost spandrel-like--"spandrel" being a term evolutionists use for the inadvertent appearance of, among other things, music, which seemingly have no survival use but nonetheless persist. It arose not with the intent of aiding farmers but from from military research into chemical warfare, a subset of war first used in Ypres in 1915 by the Germans but imitated within months by the Allies. Germans followed up by developing phosgene, the Allies again retaliating with the same. Mustard Gas (dichloridiethyl sulfide) was being used by both sides by 1918.
Military research continued after the war, Germany's I.G Farben developing the nerve gas "Tabun" in 1936 and two years later "Sarin", far more toxic and still appearing in terrorist actions today. Aware of the ongoing research into bacterial and chemical warfare, the U.S. undertook its own program with George Merck (of the big pharmaceutical company still extant today) in charge of investigating ways to distribute yellow fever, tularemia, brucellosis, glanders, anthrax and pneumonic plague. Government intelligence believed the Germans were ready with a massive program, so the U.S. expanded with a "crop division" to look for ways to ruin the food and fiber production of its enemies. Division scientists started working on plant-growth regulators--some, if applied to stems, making them bend toward sun; some making a plant sprout new roots or stems; others delaying the ripening of fruit or creating seedless fruits.
Researcher Ezra Kraus, overseeing the effort, noticed students throwing dead plants away and starting over--he realized that not just disturbing plant growth but killing vegetation could be a desirable (in terms of a militaristic project) chemical trait. In 1941, he and fellow researcher John Mitchell started testing which plant regulator caused plant death at the lowest dose. 2-4-D stood out.
2-4-D acts like "party crashers with well-faked invitations", mimicking natural growth hormones, according to Craig Canine in his book "Dream Reaper" (from which much of this history is taken). Its molecules move through a plant and then fire off receptors to speed up or turn off growth pathways--some plants, like grasses, assimilate the 2-4-D before these receptors can go to work, making 2-4-D "selective", killing just some plants, mostly broadleafs.
Kraus was top consultant in the military's crops division, his team of 14 scientists and technicians synthesizing and testing 1100 growth regulating compounds, measuring them against 2-4-D's results. None surpassed it, and American forces were poised to use the chemical in WWII just as the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima made doing so unnecessary. It was never used, but Kraus's efforts eventually developed into Agent Orange (2-4-D was a component of this chemical used widely in the Vietnam War), and Agents White, Pink, Purple and Green.
Simultaneously with the government's secret efforts, two USDA scientists, in August of 1944, openly published work on the use of 2-4-D on bindweed in orchards. Journalists picked up the study and widely distributed the news, while the government's own program remained top secret--they could hardly complain about the inadvertent "leak" without revealing the entire chemical warfare program.
Government regulation of farm chemicals was nonexistent at the time, what laws there were only addressing mislabelling and not public safety. The insecticides Paris green, lead arsenate, and bordeaux mixture (copper sulfate, lime and water) were regulated for purity rather than effects, with no mechanism in place for testing and approving safety. Scientists believed 2-4-D to be benign, in any case, with Ezra Kraus announcing he had eaten half a gram every day for three weeks and never felt better.
In 1945 Franklin Jones patented 2-4-D--the first systemic commercial fertilizer had been introduced: Weedone. Other companies immediately jumped in and patent suits ensued, even as sales skyrocketed--in 1945, 917,000 pounds were sold, in 1946, 5.5 million pounds; in 1950, 14 million pounds; and by the mid-sixties, 50 million pounds were being purchased annually.
Decades after its introduction, scientists didn't still know the mechanism by which 2-4-D worked, but they did know that its primary (and accidental) virtue was its quick breakdown by soil microbes into nontoxic products. That made it a desirable solution for weed control, even at its substantial $5 an acre cost in 1947.
Six southeast Idaho counties, in 1947, reported using three times the 2-4-D that they had a year earlier. some farmers had used it on potatoes, and had results those who apply it now might expect--the potatoes were considerably damaged. In the 1950s, 2-4-D was sometimes used to kill potato vines in the fall in lieu of waiting for a hard frost to fulfill that part of harvest.
By 1949, 2-4-D was widely enough used to initiate the crop dusting business, with 400 Bingham County farms (of its 2600) comprising 4100 acres purchasing 13,490 pounds of product. Farmers still, however, used 51,113 pounds of chlorate, not yet yielding to the new chemical.
Today, of course, one of the harbingers of spring is the sweet smell of not 2-4-D itself but additives which identify its presence--that telltale drift from grainfields being sprayed is not the herbicide but the more drift-prone aromas from those components.
Ralph Thurston is the author of The Shanghi Plain: Bingham County's Early History, available at Kesler's Market in Blackfoot and online at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCCS7XLR?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
(For bulk or classroom pricing, contact the author)
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