Pests develop resistance to GMO Bt corn, leaving Brazilian farmers with higher costs and lower yields

Pests develop resistance to GMO Bt corn, leaving Brazilian farmers with higher costs and lower yields

(NaturalNews) Those who promote genetically modified crops are also quick to promote a common myth about them which says that GMO agriculture uses fewer pesticides and is therefore better for the environment.

Proving this myth wrong are Brazilian farmers who work directly with the failing GM crops, on site, at the farm, on the ground.

These Brazilian producers have brought the news to Ricardo Tomczyk, president of the Aprosoja farm lobby in the Mato Grosso state. The Brazilian farmers want the manufacturers of these Bt corn seeds to reimburse them, because the seeds have failed, bringing higher costs and lower yields. On top of that, the failed GM seeds, engineered by Dow, Monsanto, Syngenta AG and DuPont, have forced the Brazilian farmers to spray their crops with pesticides up to three times this year!

That's right, the caterpillars are adapting to the insecticide-producing seeds. The mutating caterpillars are for real and now thrive on the GM corn.

Ricardo Tomczyk stated, "The caterpillars should die if they eat the corn, but since they didn't die this year producers had to spend on average 120 reais ($54) per hectare... at a time that corn prices are terrible."

Genetically modified crop science continues to fail all over the world
Brazil's host of tropical bugs is overtaking the insecticide-laced corn seed which was intended to explode the bug's stomachs. This has forced farmers to spray excess pesticides over and over again, as they rush to compensate for yield loss. The poor corn that's leftover this year must be sopping with chemicals, and the ground -- three times as heavy with pesticides.

This problem is reminiscent of a similar situation in the US that took place early 2014 in Iowa. Rootworms began taking over the crops there, forcing excessive pesticide use.

For Brazil, it's a different species of worm taking over -- the Spodoptera frugiperda, also known as the corn leaf worm or southern grass worm.

Of course, the consequences and failures of genetically modified crops are never the fault of the actual manufacturers.

Just as the Iowa farmers were blamed earlier in 2014, the Brazilian farmers are being blamed too, as the seed companies report that they warned farmers to plant part of their field with conventional seeds to prevent bug mutations.

Is it even ethical to sell seeds that cause bugs to mutate? These seeds are obviously harming farmers, their property and -- most importantly -- the planet.

Patented GM seeds lead to imperialism, are all about controlling agriculture
One leading culprit, Dow AgroSciences, tries to implement programs in Brazil to help corn farmers develop "an integrated pest management system that includes, among other things, the cultivation of refuge areas." In the end, Dow's seed science is nothing but corporate control over world agriculture. Sadly this control is causing perpetual abuse to farmer's property, livelihood and crop yields, as well as human health and the environment. The pesticides run off somewhere, and they're likely to show up in wells and in local drinking water.

Another culprit, DuPont, said they weren't contacted by Aprosoja and believe their Pioneer brand to be durable. At the end of the day (the end of each growing season), seed imperialists like Dow, Monsanto, Syngenta AG and DuPont get to dictate the world's seed supply, since the design of GM seed is created for yearly failure and constant need of "improvement." Of course, the marketing mantra of these seed imperialists is to "improve the efficiency and technology of their seed science each year," but this is just another way of saying that the production of farmers all around the world is now dependent upon the seed imperialists themselves.

Speaking up for the farmers, Aprosoja said, "There are barely any non-GMO seeds available... it is very uncomfortable that the companies are blaming the farmers." He also said that if reparations aren't made, then farmers in Brazil will sue the companies.


http://www.naturalnews.com/046430_Bt_corn_GMOs_pesticide_resistance.html