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Last year almost a third of US farmers failed to follow government rules for
planting “Bt maize”, a genetically modified crop resistant to larvae of the
European corn borer. To prevent the spread of resistant larvae, farmers are
supposed to grow conventional maize in “refuges” alongside plots of Bt maize. In
a survey of 501 farmers, 90 per cent thought they’d complied with the
Environmental Protection Agency’s rules. But only 71 per cent actually had
complied. Refuges are meant to occupy at least 20 per cent of Bt maize
production, and be planted within 800 metres of the Bt plots.…