Weeding with transgenes.

Transgenes promise to reduce insecticide and fungicide use but relatively little has been done to significantly reduce herbicide use through genetic engineering. Recently, three strategies for transgene utilization have been developed that have the potential to change this. These are the improvement of weed-specific biocontrol agents, enhancement of crop competition or allelopathic traits, and production of cover crops that will self-destruct near the time of planting. Failsafe risk mitigation technologies are needed for most of these strategies.