Monsanto Canada plans to give corn growers one warning to keep a refuge of at least 20 per cent in fields of Bt corn, after which it will cut off growers who still don’t comply.
The Canadian arm of the U.S. seed and ag chem firm announced its new enforcement policy Monday, in the wake of warnings from the corn industry that Canadian growers are “slipping significantly” in maintaining refuge acres.
Under Monsanto’s new policy, Bt corn growers who are found to be non-compliant during “random field assessments” will get letters advising them of the importance of a “properly configured” refuge, and that they can expect a follow-up assessment in the next growing season.
Read Also
Senft to step down as CEO of Seeds Canada
Barry Senft, the founding CEO of the five-year-old Seeds Canada organization is stepping down as of January 2026.
Once that happens, a corn grower who’s been warned but doesn’t keep a proper refuge in a Bt corn crop the following year “will lose access to Bt technologies licensed by Monsanto” such as its YieldGard varieties.
The first letters of non-compliance under the new policy will be sent out this winter, the company said.
“Planting a properly configured refuge when using corn hybrids with in-plant Bt insect control is absolutely critical to protecting the long-term viability and effectiveness of these technologies,” Chris Anderson, stewardship lead for Winnipeg-based Monsanto Canada, said in a release Monday.
Genetically modified (GM) crops with the Bt trait contain a selective endotoxin protein which kills insect predators, such as corn borers, that feed on a GM plant’s tissues.
“Corrective action”
Seed breeders and other ag scientists agree that targeted insects such as European corn borer and corn rootworm could develop resistance to the Bt protein. Approval of Bt crops by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency comes with a refuge requirement, Monsanto said.
Most currently-available Bt crops come with a minimum non-Bt refuge of 20 per cent, which in corn crops must be seeded in blocks, strips or on a field’s headlands or perimeter. Among the few exceptions are Monsanto’s Genuity SmartStax “stacked” traits, which require refuge of just five per cent.
A non-Bt refuge is meant to ensure the survival of target insects that haven’t bred resistance to the Bt protein, by diluting or eliminating any resistance traits that may develop through exposure to Bt over several generations.
Monsanto had warned growers in a fact sheet as recently as last spring that failure to maintain refuge acres “may result in the loss of access” to Bt genetics, but Monday’s announcement is the company’s first to lay out penalties.
“With refuge compliance figures on the decline it is more important than ever to increase awareness of the importance of insect resistance management to Canadian farmers,” Anderson said in the release.
“This new policy is designed to highlight the significance of planting a mandatory refuge but to do so in a way that provides farmers the opportunity to take corrective action.”
Anderson’s statement referred to a warning from the Canadian Corn Pest Coalition last week, in which the industry stakeholders’ group said Canadian corn growers’ refuge compliance rates have dropped to 61 per cent in 2009 from up to 80 per cent in 2005.
“Need to elevate”
South of the border, however, the U.S.-based Agricultural Biotechnology Stewardship Technical Committee (ABSTC) reported Monday that U.S. corn growers’ refuge compliance has “remained stable” from 2007 through 2009.
Most of the Bt corn products with the 20 per cent refuge requirement are coming due for U.S. re-registration in October, the committee noted in a release.
“In anticipation of the re-registration process, (the U.S. federal Environmental Protection Agency) has indicated a serious need to elevate comprehensive refuge compliance,” said Nathan Fields, director of biotechnology and economic analysis for the Missouri-based National Corn Growers Association.
“Growers need to research and review their requirements and prepare to take the steps needed to ensure that they will execute the correct IRM protocols,” he said in a release Monday.
An NCGA representative couldn’t immediately be reached by phone Tuesday regarding the rate of refuge compliance among U.S. growers.
