EPA Rootworm Proposal

Farmers, Industry Weigh New Rootworm Rules

Emily Unglesbee
By  Emily Unglesbee , DTN Staff Reporter
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David Brown checks for rootworm damage on his farm in central Illinois. New rules for rootworm management proposed by the EPA could change Brown's options for controlling the pest. (DTN photo by Emily Unglesbee)

ST. LOUIS (DTN) -- David Brown has seen the breakdown of Bt technology designed to protect against the western corn rootworm up close, in his own fields in central Illinois.

So when the EPA proposed a mandatory set of rules for farmers using Bt hybrids and other rootworm-control tactics designed to slow down the pest's growing resistance to Bt proteins, the Macon County, Ill., farmer expressed resignation.

"I'd prefer that compliance remain voluntary, but I also don't want to see these crop protection products compromised further," he told DTN. "Once you've used them and experienced the advantages, it's painful to see them fail. I hope that other farmers realize what is at stake and take this seriously."

Brown isn't alone in hoping for a less restrictive solution. The proposed rules strike many in the agricultural industry as impractical and unnecessarily prescriptive, farmers and seed company representatives told DTN. A number of objections to the rules have been voiced in the public responses to the proposal, which remains open for public comment until March 16 here: http://1.usa.gov/….

THE RULE RUB

The EPA proposal was spurred by a re-registration review of Bt traits on the market. Among other changes, the EPA proposal would require seed companies that sell Bt corn ensure that a set percentage of growers use approved resistance management tactics, such as crop rotation, planting non-Bt hybrids with a soil insecticide, and rotating the types of Bt proteins used in their fields.

Growers in "red zones" of rootworm resistance in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, western Indiana, southwestern Wisconsin, southern Minnesota, and eastern South Dakota would face the most restrictive planting requirements.

Representatives from the Agricultural Biotechnology Stewardship Technical Committee (ABSTC) voiced concerns about the mandatory nature of the proposed rules. (The ABSTC represents all the seed companies currently holding patents on Bt technology.)

"We want to ensure that growers have all the options and choices available to them to manage the rootworm," explained Jeff Bookout, chairman of the ABSTC and U.S. commercial stewardship lead for Monsanto. "We don't believe that the EPA rules need to be so prescriptive," he told DTN.

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Specifically, companies would be required to ensure that 50% of their customers in red zones rotate fields out of Bt corn, most likely into soybeans, at least every two years. They would also have to prove that a quarter of their customers use "multiple modes of action," such as a pyramided Bt corn hybrid. Another quarter would be required to use a non-Bt corn hybrid, combined with a soil-applied insecticide.

No more than 10% of a company's customers in the red zone could use single-protein Bt products.

"I'm not sure as an industry we see a value to a quota system," said Nick Storer, who acts as the global science policy lead for biotechnology at Dow AgroSciences, and represents the company in the ABSTC. "We need our customers everywhere to be managing corn rootworm in the most effective manner for them. Specific quotas may be difficult both to measure and implement."

Both Storer and Bookout told DTN they are confident that the EPA will be open to critiques of the proposal, including their own. "ABSTC has a very good relationship with EPA," Bookout said. "We're very confident in our ability to work with EPA to ensure growers have the best options available with the most choices."

HURDLES TO THE NEW RULES

Of all the proposal's new rules, a measure banning the use of soil-applied insecticides in conjunction with Bt corn hybrids has drawn the most criticism from farmers.

The proposed rule has its roots in academic research, which has shown that adding soil insecticides to Bt hybrids can actually encourage or speed up Bt resistance in a field.

But the proposal has upset many growers, who feel it limits their freedom to operate and control pests in their fields. "The use of chemical to treat corn rootworms is vital to our operation," South Dakota producer Dennis LeBrun wrote to the EPA. "It is actually a sound way to insure against resistance by eliminating the worms that get through the seed treatment."

The ban would affect the vast majority of corn growers, given government estimates that 80% of the corn planted in the U.S. contains Bt proteins. Many of these Bt-users routinely add soil insecticides during planting to protect against other pests, such as wireworms and white grubs, not just rootworms, Storer pointed out.

Another proposed requirement -- that up to one-third of corn growers use a non-Bt corn hybrid each year -- also has practical limits. Because of the dominance of Bt-corn traits in the marketplace, many farmers find it difficult to find non-Bt hybrids among companies' top-yielding elite hybrids.

"I would like to point out that it is difficult to purchase seed corn without this trait and if you can it is usually more expensive, not less due to sales incentives," one producer wrote in a public comment to the EPA.

Whether seed companies will work to change this situation is uncertain, but Christy Randolph Wright, the U.S. seeds communications leader for Dow, said the company is sensitive to grower needs in this area.

"Dow assesses our product portfolio on an annual basis, advancing the most elite corn genetics for grower and marketplace needs," she told DTN in an email. "This advancement process certainly takes into account future market demands, such as those for non-Bt hybrids, should that demand increase in the future."

In an email to DTN, Monsanto Communications Manager Jeff Neu added that Monsanto's priority is "to deliver a portfolio that provides greater choices in seeds and traits that address farmers' specific agronomic needs."

You can read the EPA proposal to slow rootworm resistance here: http://1.usa.gov/…. You can find the ABSTC's statement on the proposal, along with other public comments here: http://1.usa.gov/….

Emily Unglesbee can be reached at emily.unglesbee@dtn.com.

Follow Emily Unglesbee on Twitter @Emily_Unglesbee.

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Emily Unglesbee