Insects Find Crack In Biotech Corn's Armor

[hypocritexposer]

Hidden in the soil of Illinois and Iowa, a new generation of insect larvae appears to be munching happily on the roots of genetically engineered corn, according to scientists. It's bad news for corn farmers, who paid extra money for this line of corn, counting on the power of its inserted genes to kill those pests. It's also bad news for the biotech company Monsanto, which inserted the larvae-killing gene in the first place.

In fact, the gene's apparent failure, as reported in the journal PLoS One, may be the most serious threat to a genetically modified crop in the U.S. since farmers first started growing them 15 years ago. The economic impact could be "huge," says the University of Arizona's Bruce Tabashnik, one of the country's top experts on the adaptation of insects to genetically engineered crops. Billions of dollars are at stake.

The story of how this happened is long and complicated, but the details are important, so let's start at the beginning.

continued......

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/12/05/143141300/insects-find-crack-in-biotech-corns-armor#more

 

[burnt]

Yup, that kind of discovery is going to make Pioneer's new $300-a-bag, triple-stacked (3 G.E. characteristics) seed corn look a bit risky!! That would be $120/acre for seed alone at a population of 32,000 plants/ac, the norm for around here.

The non-G.E. (Pioneer) corn I planted last spring yielded 180 bu./ac, well within range of the average for corn grown around here, and cost about $200/bag.

But it is getting more difficult all the time to find an economically viable non-G.E. seed corn to plant.

The seed companies are over-using the G.E. technology for one reason only - it makes them more money. For this reason, it appears that the major seed companies have put all their eggs in one - G.E. - basket.

Drastic news of developing target-insect resistance shows that they relentlessly pursue this technology not only at their own peril as holders of expensive, but faulty, technology. It is also bad news for the food supply of an increasingly hungry world.

Good stuff can go bad fairly quickly if abused.

 

[per]

Not a corn grower but I am speculating Burnt that you meant $20 for non GMO not $200?

 

[Sundancer]

Not a corn grower but I am speculating Burnt that you meant $20 for non GMO not $200?

If he planted $20 dollar a bag Pioneer corn, I hope he gives us the name of his dealer. $200 is getting to be a bargain anymore. Pretty sure Burnt is correct.

 

[burnt]

$200 it is.

Our local dealer told us at his annual customer appreciation dinner that the list price for the newest triple-stacked seed corn is $300/ bag and another mainline seed dealer said that theirs is $295.

There is no doubt that the newer corn varieties usually mean 5 - 10 bushel/ac. yield benefits and the seed companies always take their share of it.

 

[katrina]

Would the saying: "Don't fool with mother nature." be appropriate?