Being a sweet corn grower just got a little sweeter…and a lot easier. On February 27, 1998, the Environmental Protection Agency granted conditional registration for ATTRIBUTE™ sweet corn with YieldGard® insect protection, the first Bt sweet corn hybrids cleared for sale to commercial growers and processors. Developed by Novartis Seeds, Inc., Vegetables of Boise, Idaho, and marketed under the Rogers brand name, ATTRIBUTE insect protected hybrids provide season long protection against European corn borer and corn earworm—two devastating sweet corn pests. Good Insect Control Without Chemical Pesticides

ATTRIBUTE insect protected hybrids could reduce the use of chemical insecticides used to control European corn borer and corn earworm on commercial sweet corn by 75-100%. In the 4100 acres of large-scale trials Novartis Seeds grew under an Experimental Use Permit from the EPA during 1997, ATTRIBUTE achieved outstanding results. The third party cooperators who grew these trials reported that no sprays were necessary for control of European corn borer or corn earworm on ATTRIBUTE insect protected hybrids. Processing sweet corn growers typically spray two to eight times per season and fresh market growers may need to spray more often.

Consumer Acceptance

Consumer awareness and acceptance of biotech food products is strong and growing. The 1997 Wirthlin Group Quorum Survey sponsored by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) found 78% of US consumers claim to know something about biotechnology and 77% are somewhat or very likely to buy produce that had been modified by biotechnology to prevent insect damage and reduce pesticide use. In the Food Marketing Institutes’ (FMI) 1996 Trends study only 16% of US consumers mentioned biotechnology as a food safety concern, whereas 66% were concerned about the use of pesticides and herbicides. Products produced from ATTRIBUTE sweet corn seed should enjoy good consumer acceptance since they will require little or no pesticide use.

Labeling Requirements and Opportunities

The packaging for ATTRIBUTE insect protected sweet corn seed is clearly labeled in accordance with EPA requirements. Growers will also be able to distinguish ATTRIBUTE seed from traditional hybrids because it has a blue seed coating (whereas traditional hybrids have a pink seed coating) and its package bears a large ATTRIBUTE logo on the front and sides.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require consumer labeling of products produced from ATTRIBUTE insect protected sweet corn for sale in the United States. For those who choose to label, there may be an opportunity for products that claim to be produced with fewer pesticides.

Hartman and Hope’s 1997 study ”The Evolving Marketplace” found 22% of consumers are ”organic attracted”, that is, interested in buying organics if they are readily available at a reasonable price. These consumers may represent an opportunity for products that reduce pesticide use through integrated pest management, without incurring the high input costs of organic production.

Insect Resistance Management

As with any insect control measure, preventing insect resistance is critical to maintaining long-term effectiveness. For this reason, ATTRIBUTE growers will be required by the EPA to employ the following insect resistance management practices. Monitoring programs will be instituted by Novartis Seeds to ensure that growers take these precautions:

1. Plant ATTRIBUTE hybrids in large blocks.
2. Scout for non-target pests and use Integrated Pest Management strategies.
3. Scout for resistant corn borers and corn earworms.
4. Do not spray Bt microbial pesticides on ATTRIBUTE sweet corn fields.
5. Destroy any remaining ATTRIBUTE stalks immediately following or within one month of harvest.
6. Do not repackage or resell ATTRIBUTE sweet corn seed.
7. Cooperate with Novartis Seeds in its efforts to monitor grower compliance with the preceding insect resistance management practices.

A grower guide and video providing more information about ATTRIBUTE insect protected sweet corn and the requirements for preventing insect resistance is available through Novartis Seeds and its VIP sweet corn dealers.

Seed inventories of VP 0966, the ATTRIBUTE insect protected hybrid for the fresh market, will be limited to large-scale trial quantities, until fall 1998, when full commercial inventories will become available. VP 0966 is a mid-season, yellow supersweet that matures in about 78 days and offers resistance to rust (Rp1d) and tolerance to northern corn leaf blight and Stewart’s wilt. Novartis Seeds has good seed inventories of two ATTRIBUTE hybrids for the processor market: GH 0943 is a normal, yellow hybrid with resistance to Rust (Rp1d) and maize dwarf mosaic virus. In about
81 days, this variety produces ears with straight rows of tender sweet kernels that provide excellent finished quality. GH 0937 is a normal yellow hybrid that produces uniform ears averaging 8 inches in length in about 83 days. GH 0937 is resistant to Rust (Rp1d) and maize dwarf mosaic virus, and tolerant to northern corn leaf blight and Stewart’s wilt. For more information contact your Novartis Seeds representative.

Only Novartis Seeds’ VIP sweet corn dealers will be authorized to sell ATTRIBUTE seed to the fresh market. In keeping with the EPA restriction against sales to the home garden industry, dealers will only distribute ATTRIBUTE seed to commercial growers.

How It Works

ATTRIBUTE insect protected hybrids have been genetically altered to produce the same insect-control protein as Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)--a naturally occurring soil bacteria that growers spray on their fields to control certain insects.

Novartis Seeds incorporated a gene that expresses the Bt protein into its elite hybrids and employed exclusive technologies to enable the plant to express the protein throughout its leaves, silks, stalks and ears, throughout its life. When certain insects consume a minute amount of the plant tissue containing the Bt protein, the protein binds to their mid-gut, causing them to stop feeding immediately and die within 48 hours.

The insect control protein (Cry1A(b)) found in ATTRIBUTE insect protected hybrids, which is licensed from Monsanto Company under the YieldGard® insect protected corn trademark, provides season-long control of European corn borer and corn earworm. It may also provide some protection against economic loss to fall armyworm. But it is not harmful to humans, other mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, or beneficial insects. A nutritional analysis conducted by ANRESCO, an independent laboratory, found no significant differences between nutritional composition of ATTRIBUTE hybrids and their non-Bt counterparts.

Company news release
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