May 5, 2010

EPA approves DuPont's corn seed product

The product - Optimum AcreMax 1 - is the first of its kind to receive regulatory approval and is considered cutting edge in insect management.

Farmers in Delaware and across the country plant seeds engineered using bacteria to ward off insects - such as the rootworm and corn-borer - that can turn healthy crops into money pits.

Under current regulations, they must also plant seeds without those defences in a "refuge" to ensure that insects do not develop a resistance to the modified crops, rendering them useless.

DuPont's product will package both sets of seeds in a single bag and reduce the area on which farmers must plant a rootworm refuge by half.

Packaging the rootworm-resistant and refuge seeds in one bag makes it more convenient for farmers who have had to previously re-adjust their planting equipment to plant the two types of seeds, DuPont said.

AcreMax 1 will be demonstrated this year and rolled out in 2011. Paul E. Schickler, president of DuPont's Pioneer Hi-Bred seed business, called the approval a "regulatory milestone" and "great news for corn growers."