Purdue professors downplay importance of transgenics to Indiana farmers

Cropchoice 13mar01

Two Purdue University professors -- an agronomist and an agriculture engineer -- reported to AgWeb.com that transgenic crops are not critical for Indiana farmers in the 2001 growing season.

They issued a joint paper stating that: "European corn borer, the corn pest targeted by Bt corn hybrids, occurs infrequently enough and at sufficiently low levels that the use of Bt hybrids is not economical for most Indiana corn growing situations. Such hybrids are best suited to extremely early or late corn plantings where the risk of injury to the corn borer is greatest. The glyphosate tolerant soybean technology is a very handy weed control tool and often lowers total weed control costs, but cannot be considered critically important for the success of soybean production in Indiana."

The professors suggested that growers remember the following points about corn and soybeans.

Corn:

• Obtain written verification from seed dealers that the seed is free of StarLink.
• Roundup Ready corn has approval only in the United States and Japan.

Soybeans:

• Folks wishing to grow non-transgenic soybeans could have a tough time finding seeds.
• Foreign buyers are still willing to buy Roundup Ready soybeans.

Source: AgWeb.com