Product Information for Farmers
(Bt/Roundup Ready Sweet Corn)
We all want to eat a balanced, healthful diet. We seek to serve our families high-quality fruits and vegetables that are nutritious, fresh and flavorful.
High-quality produce starts in the fields where our food is grown. America’s farmers are proud to provide families with sweet corn that is delicious and wholesome.
Biotech sweet corn hybrids for the fresh market help farmers produce sweet corn that is safe, flavorful and as nutritious as conventional sweet corn, while reducing the number of insecticide applications.
When farmers grow genetically modified (or GM) sweet corn with Bt protein, they reduce:
Insecticide (pesticide) applications by as much as 85%.
Fuel and energy use, with fewer tractor trips across their fields.
Healthy Plants Produce High Quality Food
Insects love good tasting sweet corn as much as we do. Farmers work hard to keep damaging insects from destroying plants and eating the corn before it reaches our dinner tables.
For more than a decade, American sweet corn farmers have benefited from advancements in breeding and biotechnology, allowing them to grow plants with a beneficial built-in Bt protein found in Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that protects the sweet corn from certain damaging insects.
Bt protein was discovered in a naturally occurring bacteria that is often used by organic farmers to control certain insect pests.
When built into the plant, the Bt protein provides protection from certain sweet corn insect pests, allowing farmers to decrease insecticide (pesticide) applications by as much as 85%. With fewer tractor trips across their fields to apply insecticide, farmers also reduce their use of fossil fuels.