Starting on next cotton crop season 2013/14, Monsanto will begin to sell GM cotton bags including not only GM seeds (with BT – bacillus turigiensis – resistance + glyphosate herbicide’s resistance—usually identified as Roundup Ready or RR resistance) but also conventional seeds to be used as refuge, which is standing for planted areas with conventional seeds (only with RR resistance) close to planted areas with GM seeds. Theoretically, the refuges play the role of environmental guardians, because the conventional crops (without Bt resistance) minimize the chance that insects—sensitive to Bt—can develop resistance to Bt during its reproductive step. The Monsanto technician, Benjamín Amarilla, said, “this 2012/13 season was difficult for several cotton farmers to sow the refuge area. Main problem was that they didn’t have time to search and sort for places to sow GM seeds and other places to sow conventional or RR seeds. Due to this problem, Monsanto evaluates to sell—starting on next 2013/14 season—each GM (Bt-RR) seed’s 15 kg bag plus a conventional (RR) seed’s 2.5–3 kg bag.”
“It’s an idea that was consolidated along the time with each visit to farmers, where they understand the importance to include the refuge area, but not always could meet this requirement”, explained Amarilla, during a visit to several farmers organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG).
Amarilla also warned that “every crop—cotton, corn or soybean—with the Bt event must include a refuge area to avoid the reproduction among each other of insects that ate the genetically modified (GM) leaves and didn’t die.”
“The distribution of the 2 bag’s pack (GM (Bt-RR) seed’s bag + conventional (RR) seed’s bag) will be made through the dealer’s and distribution center’s commercial network which has direct contact with the almost 80,000 cotton farmers from the whole country,” said in advance, Benjamín Amarilla.
He finally stated, “We can make sure that each farmer buying GM seeds could simultaneously acquire conventional seeds for refuge. Unfortunately for this season 2012/13, Monsanto had no time to complete the evaluations with farmers, and prepare the packs of 1 bag (15 kgs) of GM seeds + 1 bag (2.5-3 kgs) of conventional seeds.”
The news above was sourced from Crop Protection South America Monthly Report, a monthly newsletter issued by CCM.
Contents of Crop Protection South America Monthly Report 1304:
Paraguay: Monsanto to sell GM cotton with seeds of refuge for next crop season
BASF & Shell decide an agreement to compensate Brazilian workers
Bayer Brazil offers sustainable integrated solutions for Goiás state’s producers
Brazil: 2012/13 crop evaluation per region
Paraguay: Crop producer unions and Monsanto set agreement to avoid payment of royalties
Brazil—Glyphosate herbicide price evolution for the top 3 crop production states
Peru: New variety of kiwicha shows impressive yield of 3,000 kg/ha
Overview of wheat production in Brazil and Argentina
Ecuador establishes a new national plan for irrigation and drainage
Uruguay: Highlights of a good place for investing and doing business
Paraguay: Parliament rejects President’s initiative to apply retentions for crop exports
Chile: Launching a challenging hydroponic crop project in the desert
Cheminova launches a new banana project for Brazil in São Paulo state
Brazil approves new pesticide imports to combat caterpillar Helicoverpa armigera
Paraguay: Government works on plan to fight against HLB citric plague
Brazil increases pesticide sales to prevent presence of rust and other diseases
Argentina: The use of big plastic bags to store grains is a strong support to farmers
GMO planted area for 2012—Updated news and ranking of Brazil and Argentina
Bayer CropScience launches new bio fungicide in 5 Latin American countries
Argentina: Training on identification and control from grape moth in San Juan province
Crop Protection South America Monthly Report, a monthly publication issued by CCM on 31st, offers timely update and close follow-up of South America's crop protection industry’s dynamics and the crops’ evolution and trends. This monthly report also features in-depth analysis on market development through abundant facts and figures.
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