THE PRODUCTION AND USAGE OF GLYPHOSATE, THE MOST WIDELY USED HERBICIDE IN THE WORLD FOR WEED AND VEGETATION CONTROL, HAS STEADILY INCREASED, PARTICULARLY SINCE THE EMERGENCE OF GLYPHOSATE-TOLERANT GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS. VARIOUS STUDIES HAVE SHOWN POSSIBLE TOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS LINKED TO GLYPHOSATE AND ITS DEGRADATION PRODUCTS AND WHO'S CANCER RESEARCH WING CLASSIFIED GLYPHOSATE AS A 'PROBABLE HUMAN CARCINOGEN'. THIS RESEARCH AIMS TO INVESTIGATE THE FATE AND DEGRADATION OF GLYPHOSATE IN A SERIES OF LABORATORY AND FIELD EXPERIMENTS. APPLICATION OF IRMS, HPLC-MS, HPLC-IRMS, AND 1-D AND 2-D NMR CORRELATION SPECTROSCOPIES WILL BRING AN UNPRECEDENTED CAPABILITY TO DETECT AND MORE IMPORTANTLY TRACK SOURCES OF GLYPHOSATE RESIDUE AND ITS DEGRADATION PRODUCTS IN SOIL. A MULTI-ISOTOPE (13C, 15N, AND 18OP) TOOL WILL DIFFERENTIATE DEGRADATION PRODUCTS GENERATED FROM GLYPHOSATE AND OTHER BIOTIC/ABIOTIC SOURCES AS WELL AS ENABLE TO CALCULATE THEIR RESIDENCE TIMES IN SOILS, THUS GENERATING A PRECISE ASSESSMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL FATE OF GLYPHOSATE AND OVERALL IMPACT ON SOIL P CYCLING. COMBINATION OF THESE RESULTS WITH A MOLECULAR SIMULATION USING DENSITY FUNCTION THEORY (DFT) WILL IDENTIFY CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH GLYPHOSATE DEGRADATION OCCURS THROUGH LESS TOXIC PRODUCT PATHWAYS. THE FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING DEVELOPED WILL ALLOW FOR THE SAFER APPLICATION OF GLYPHOSATE AND THE LIMITING OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE AND CATALYZE THE FUTURE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF ENVIRONMENTALLY BENIGN HERBICIDES.