Date: 3/31/99

Time: 8:10

Type: Symposium

Number: 229

Managing corn insect resistance to transgenic corn: the National Corn Growers' perspective

*S. McFarland, National Corn Growers Association, St. Louis, MO 63141
Contact e-mail:

The following companies (DeKalb, Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto, Mycogen Seeds, Novartis Seeds, Pioneer Hi-Bred International) in cooperation with the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) have reached agreement-in-principle on the following key elements of a unified corn insect resistance management plan for the year 2000. The companies are committed to Bt product stewardship and will continue dialogue with other stakeholder groups to achieve this goal. This program is applicable to the current technologies listed above. As future technologies and innovations emerge, appropriate IRM stewardship plans will be developed. I. Refuge Level: · Growers, regardless of their geographic location and individual management practices, will be required to plant a minimum of 20% non-Bt corn refuge on their farm. · A farm is defined as the entire land under cultivation to corn by a grower in that growing season within a county. While the grower has flexibility in planting the non-Bt corn refuge, the companies will continue to recommend that growers plant the refuge nearby plantings of Bt corn. · On farms where corn borer-active non-Bt conventional insecticides will likely be used, growers will be required to plant the non-Bt corn refuge at a distance no greater than 0.25 miles from the Bt corn planting. Growers will be encouraged to follow appropriate Integrated Pest Management practices and treat only when corn borer densities reach economic threshold levels. · In cotton growing areas where plantings of MON810 and BT11 are currently restricted, growers will be required to plant a 20% refuge in the Northern cotton growing region and a 50% refuge in the Southern cotton growing region (see map and state/county detail below). Regional boundaries will be reviewed based upon the most current information such as Bt cotton market penetration and corn earworm overwintering survival, and adjusted accordingly. II. IRM Agreement · Growers will sign an agreement stipulating that they will follow the IRM requirements detailed in Bt corn product grower guides supplied by companies. · Grower guides supplied by companies will include a uniform set of IRM requirements to all corn growers purchasing Bt corn products (Bt11, MON810, DBT-418, and Event 176 Bt Corn). III. Grower Education · It is clear that growers must understand the importance of Bt corn insect resistance management. Therefore, a uniform set of IRM requirements will be developed and communicated through individual seed companies working with organizations such as: US EPA; USDA; NCGA, state and county corn associations; and land grant university extension services. · The companies recognize as well the critical importance of continuing education to ensure IRM program implementation and are committed to education programs. IV. Grower Adoption of IRM Plan · Grower surveys will be conducted annually to determine grower adoption of the Bt corn IRM requirements. · If grower implementation of the required IRM plan falls below acceptable levels in an area, then grower education will be increased and strengthened to improve IRM plan adoption. · Individual growers who repeatedly do not follow the IRM requirements described in the Bt corn product grower guides will have limited access to the technology in the future. V. Insect Susceptibility Monitoring · Registrants will continue to monitor target insect susceptibility as required by US EPA.

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