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New Corn Variety
Designed to Protect Against Rootworm
Farmers may soon be able to protect their
corn yields against rootworm, if government regulators approve the new
YieldGard (CRW) variety now in the final stages of registry.
Rootworms thrive on the roots of corn plants, leaving them without the
healthy root system these plants need to stay anchored in the soil.
Even if the corn manages to live and produce ears, the beetles
that mature from these rootworms can do extensive damage to a farmer's
field.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, corn rootworms
cost growers about $1 billion each year in lower yields and higher costs
for chemical insecticides. Doane Market Research reports that in
the year 2000, over 90 million pounds of insecticide were used on more
than 15 million acres of corn nationwide. This new
rootworm-protected variety may provide farmers with an alternative
approach.
Like the corn borer-protected variety approved in 1997, this new corn
contains the Bt gene, which produces a substance that is toxic to many
harmful insects. The Midwest is the area where growers are facing
the biggest rootworm problems.
"New Biotech Corn Could Knockout Rootworm," Farm
Bureau News
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