The Story of Glyphosate - The Most Successful Chemical Used To Grow Our Food

G’day everyone,

Every once in a while, I like to look back at how certain things came to shape the world we live in—especially the quiet, invisible ones. Few are as silent and powerful as glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide on Earth.

But before it was soaking into our soils and rivers, before it became a household name whispered with worry, it was just another chemical sitting on a lab shelf.

By now you know its retail name well ‘Round-Up’, in 2018 it was reported this wonderful product earned Bayer (the company who sells it) over $4billion in a single year.

How it was discovered

Glyphosate’s story starts in 1950, when a Swiss chemist named Henri Martin first synthesized it. Back then, it wasn’t anything special. It just sat in the archives of a chemical company, unnoticed. No one saw it as useful.

It wasn’t until 1970 that a chemist named John Franz, working for Monsanto, rediscovered the compound and realized something remarkable—it could kill plants. And not just a few kinds—almost all of them.

What it was used for before farming

Before anyone thought of spraying it on fields, glyphosate was used as a chelator—a chemical that binds to metals. In simple terms, it could “grab onto” minerals like calcium or magnesium, which made it useful for cleaning industrial pipes and boilers clogged with mineral deposits.

So, before it became a weed killer, it was basically a pipe cleaning chemical.

When it became a herbicide

Monsanto patented glyphosate as a herbicide in 1974 and launched it under the brand name Roundup.

Farmers were immediately impressed. Glyphosate wasn’t just effective—it was revolutionary. It killed almost every plant it touched, and it broke down quickly in soil. It was marketed as safe, clean, and the perfect farming tool.

Why it became so common in farming

The real explosion came in the 1990s with the introduction of Roundup Ready crops—genetically modified soybeans, corn, and cotton that could survive being sprayed with glyphosate.

Now, farmers could spray entire fields without worrying about killing their crops. It saved time, labor, and cost. Yields went up. Weeds disappeared.

It was farming made simple. And for a while, it seemed perfect.

Why it’s used more today (and how much it’s increased)

But like many modern conveniences, what began as a small tool turned into a massive dependency.

Since the 1980s, global glyphosate use has increased more than 100-fold. Today, it’s sprayed not just on GMO crops, but also on wheat, oats, and other grains right before harvest—to dry them faster. It’s used on almost all farms that grow food or fibre because it’s so effective at doing its job.

When health effects were first discovered

Concerns started surfacing in the early 1990s, but it wasn’t until the 2010s that large-scale studies began connecting glyphosate exposure to potential health issues—particularly cancer, gut disruption, and hormonal effects.

In 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen.”

That changed everything. Suddenly, the world’s most trusted herbicide had a shadow.

How glyphosate kills plants (and harms humans)
Here’s the simple version:

Glyphosate works by blocking a specific enzyme that plants need to make certain amino acids—essential building blocks of life. Without them, the plant basically starves to death.

Humans don’t have that enzyme, so for years it was said to be “safe.”

But here’s the catch: the bacteria in our gut do have that enzyme. And glyphosate doesn’t know the difference. It can harm the microbes that help us digest food, balance our immune system, and even regulate mood.

So while it may not attack our cells directly, it can disrupt the ecosystem inside us—the one we depend on just as much as the soil depends on its microbes for the health of our planet.

The quiet irony

Glyphosate was invented to clean pipes. Then it was used to clean fields. Now, it’s flowing through the veins of our planet, and maybe through us too.

The story of glyphosate isn’t just about a chemical—it’s a mirror of our times.

Our desire for control. Our trade-offs between efficiency and harmony.

And how, in trying to make things easier, we sometimes forget how connected everything really is.

Thank YOU for joining us on this epic journey & supporting Your Organic farmers!