Pestilence Of Biblical Proportions Quietly Brewing
Pastor Dale Morgan
Pestilence Of Biblical Proportions Quietly Brewing*
Transgenic corn hybrids, such as Bt corn, are engineered to produce
toxins that target specific insect pests. Planting refuges of non-Bt
corn near Bt crops slows the development of Bt-resistance in insects.
This year, Nebraska farmers planted 79 percent of their corn crop to
genetically modified varieties. That was up from 76 percent last year.
State farmers planted 9.1 million acres of corn this year. Steffey said
because non-Bt corn hybrids sometimes yield less than Bt hybrids, some
farmers are doing away with refuges altogether a violation of federal
law. These practices will increase the rate at which target insects
become resistant, he said. "Some corn growers are looking at short-term
gains and ignoring long-term consequences. This is a mistake repeating
itself from the 1960s," he said. Steffey said some growers take the new
technologies, such as transgenic corn, for granted, believing that the
problems of resistance will not arise with these new products. But
resistance is a normal, ecological adaptation to any selective stress,
Steffey said. "We have an insect, the western corn rootworm, that became
resistant to crop rotation," he said. "That made us aware of what we're
dealing with: This insect is plastic, genetically, and can adapt to a
lot of things."
By Robert Pore
Something that rarely happens for corn farmers may occur this year a
good price and a bumper crop.
This year's weather has been very favorable to the vast majority of
Nebraska corn farmers, who increased their corn planting to take
advantage of higher prices.
The combination of the possibility of a 1.4-billion-bushel corn crop and
prices over $3 per bushel could generate more than a $5 billion economic
impact on the state's economy this fall.
But according to researchers at the University of Illinois, the higher
return on the corn crop is encouraging some growers to go over the deep
end trying to make a bumper crop into an even larger one.
"Some people are using chemical inputs when they're not necessary," said
Kevin Steffey, a university extension specialist in entomology and
professor of crop sciences. "If transgenic corn kills a percentage of
corn rootworms, then some growers will put an insecticide with it to
push the percentage higher.
"They're willing to spend money without challenging why they're spending
money, simply because they can afford it," he said.
Steffey said expectations of higher corn prices are leading some farmers
to neglect or ignore integrated pest management strategies. That
behavior, he said, could undermine "the very technologies that sustain
them."
Integrated pest management (IPM), Steffey said, is a set of principles
developed to minimize the ecological impacts of pesticides, transgenic
crops and other pest management technologies.
A primary goal, he said, is to slow the emergence of "resistant" insects
that have adapted or evolved to evade management strategies that work.
Traditional approaches for slowing the development of insect resistance
include crop rotation and scouting for pests to determine whether and
when to use chemicals to limit damage. Newer strategies include planting
nontransgenic corn "refuges" alongside crops of transgenic corn.
Transgenic corn hybrids, such as Bt corn, are engineered to produce
toxins that target specific insect pests. Planting refuges of non-Bt
corn near Bt crops slows the development of Bt-resistance in insects.
This year, Nebraska farmers planted 79 percent of their corn crop to
genetically modified varieties. That was up from 76 percent last year.
State farmers planted 9.1 million acres of corn this year.
Steffey said because non-Bt corn hybrids sometimes yield less than Bt
hybrids, some farmers are doing away with refuges altogether a violation
of federal law. These practices will increase the rate at which target
insects become resistant, he said.
"Some corn growers are looking at short-term gains and ignoring
long-term consequences. This is a mistake repeating itself from the
1960s," he said.
Steffey said some growers take the new technologies, such as transgenic
corn, for granted, believing that the problems of resistance will not
arise with these new products.
But resistance is a normal, ecological adaptation to any selective
stress, Steffey said.
"We have an insect, the western corn rootworm, that became resistant to
crop rotation," he said. "That made us aware of what we're dealing with:
This insect is plastic, genetically, and can adapt to a lot of things."
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires farmers to plant at
least 20 percent refuge that is, corn that does not contain a Bt gene
for controlling corn borers within a half mile of the Bt corn.
National Corn Growers Association Biotechnology Working Group Chairman
Martin Barbre said that IRM compliance surveys have shown that more than
90 percent of growers follow requirements for Bt corn.
He said growers must resist the temptation to boost profits in the short
term.
"The science is clear that the 20-percent refuge requirement (for Bt
corn) is probably a really good number," Barbre said. "Anything lower
than that could probably tend to start creating resistance situations.
Once we get resistance situations, as we know in weed resistance, it
becomes a nightmare."