Monsanto Corn Injured by Early Rootworm Feeding in Illinois

[mia]

Monsanto Co. corn has been overwhelmed in parts of Illinois by rootworms that hatched a month early, renewing concern that the bugs are becoming immune to the insecticide engineered into the crop.

An "amazing" number of rootworms have emerged as adult beetles, the earliest start in at least 30 years, Michael Gray, an entomologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana, said today in an online journal. The insects "severely pruned" the roots of corn observed June 7 at a farm in Cass County, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.

The western corn rootworm is one of the most destructive pests and historically cost U.S. farmers about $1 billion a year in damages and chemical pesticides before crops with built-in insecticide were developed. Corn fields in four states were overrun with the bugs last year, incidents that the Environmental Protection Agency suspects is a sign of increasing resistance to the insecticide....


As many as 28 million acres of cotton, soybean and corn may host Roundup-resistant weeds by 2015, according to Syngenta AG.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/06/15/bloomberg_articlesM5O5RI6K510501-M5O8S.DTL#ixzz1xxHnbMJV

[FedUpWithIt All]

1. Fuck you Monsanto, on behalf of my children.

This repeated evidence of failure on the part of Monsanto is even more upsetting due to that fact that their monopoly on corn production has nearly eradicated many species of heritage corn which carried some natural resistance to environmental enemies.

How could the people who work at that corporation be so short sited. How are their own kids supposed to survive once they've meddled in and ultimately destroyed all of our natural food production. Damned fools.

[madrchsod]

2. it`s called rotating crops in the fields each year but.....

that would mean that farmers would have to learn how to farm again. the supply lines and future markets would have to be changed.

this is`t going to happen because no one has the courage to do what is needed. stick with the chems and sometime in the near future we`ll just barely be able to feed our nation.

[arikara]

3. What did they expect?

Short sighted greedy bastards. I HATE monsanto and everything they stand for.