BOOTHEEL FARMERS IN SEVEN COUNTIES MAY PLANT MORE Bt CORN

Corn farmers in Missouri's Bootheel will be permitted to plant more Bt corn this year.

A recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency will allow Bootheel growers in seven counties to plant 50 percent of their corn acreage in Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) hybrids.

The EPA limits use of the Bt hybrids to 5 percent of plantings in the seven cotton-growing counties of Butler, Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Scott and Stoddard.

The new limits were applauded by the Missouri Corn Growers Association, other farm groups, U.S. Sens. John Ashcroft and Christopher Bond and U.S. Reps. Jo Ann Emerson and Roy Blunt, all of Missouri.

"The EPA's decision to allow corn growers in the Bootheel to expand their use of the genetically engineered Bt corn is a win for the Missouri agriculture community," said Ashcroft, who met with EPA representatives in January.

"I made two arguments for the expanded Bt plantings before the EPA," said Ashcroft. "First, our farmers are facing some tough financial challenges, and the expanded use of the Bt corn will mean higher farm income and greater resistance to crop pests."

The congressional group is to be commended for their personal involvement in seeking to ease the planting restrictions, said Charles Kruse, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau and a Dexter farmer.

The Bt seed bacterium will have no effect on animals or human beings that eat the mature corn, say agriculture officials.

The EPA's concern is in the overuse of the Bt pesticide gene, a bacterium used in the fight against the corn borer.

Cotton growers throughout the Bootheel are allowed to plant as much as 96 percent Bt cotton. In areas north of the Bootheel where cotton is not grown, farmers are permitted to plant up to 80 percent of their acreage in Bt corn.

"This includes Cape Girardeau County," said Gerald Bryan, an agronomist with the University of Missouri Extension Service office at Jackson. Farmers here and farther north plant a lot of Bt corn.

"It's a financial savings for farmers," said Bryan. "The seed costs a little more, but the crop stands are better and the yields are higher. And farmers don't have to use as much pesticide on the crop."

"We're pleased with the increase of Bt corn allotments," said Fred Stemme, director of communications for the Missouri Corn Growers Association. "Farmers throughout the Bootheel area had some big problems with the European corn borer in 1998.

Some farmers in the area think the EPA should give the Bootheel the same allotment of other areas in Missouri: 80 percent Bt corn, said Stemme.

"We're pleased that the EPA has recognized this problem," said Randy Jennings, a Bernie farmer and member of the Corn Growers Association board. "But we're disappointed that the percentage allowable in 1999 is not significantly higher."

The percentage could increase, said Forrest Rose, information specialist for University of Missouri Extension.

The EPA is considering reclassifications of the seven counties as a non-cotton growing area because the majority of farmers do not plant Bt cotton, he said.

"Bt cotton seed is expensive for growers," said Bob Phipps of the University of Missouri Delta Center at Portageville. "Few cotton farmers use it."

Phipps agreed that corn farmers would benefit from Bt planting.