One of my chief complaints of the no till thinking, is its dependence on gly spray. And I do use gly but try to limit its use. I'm not so sure it affects the mammal population. I will say, if I dig a hole in a gly sprayed field, the bug and earthworm activity is much less than in a perennial or fallow field plot. Yes their are multiple factors in these comparisons. We will always deal with variety of opinions and even scientific results. I think using anything is somewhat dependent on the real necessity.
DDT is my prime example. It was argued its banning would destroy the ability of the farmer to make a profit, much as Gly is argued today. I know for sure, that I really enjoy the bald eagles in my back yard where in past years they had shriveled to some very remote areas at least partly due to thin shelled egg poor survival from DDT over use. Kill every "bug", every "weed" we don't like, and where has it gotten us?
Trust? Anyone on here had the pleasure of being exposed to Agent Orange in Nam? No problem, just couple of defoliant agents one of which is 2,4-D. Ever see that ingredient mentioned on food plot forums? Have you or any friends deal with its aftermath?
I live in the state home to Union Carbide, Dupont, and others. I support new products that make this place a better place to live. My FIL was one of the original study testers of Sevin. So I do embrace those various breakthroughs in technology. But I also tred very carefully in blindly accepting either side of a story. Some times those damn tree huggers can have a point.