The US Environmental Protection Agency requires that growers plant a 20% non-Bt corn refuge within ½ mile of their Bt corn. Industry has reported on the rate of grower compliance to these requirements. We provide this preliminary report on the actual patterns of planting of Bt and non-Bt corn in three 216 mi2 areas of southwestern Minnesota, one of the areas with the highest reported rate of adoption of Bt corn. We found that there are many compact, contiguous 9 mi2 areas in which no refuge fields can be found. We are presently investigating whether male European corn borers can find their way into the middle of these areas in numbers sufficient to delay the evolution of resistance.
Species 1: Lepidoptera Crambidae Ostrinia nubilalis (European corn borer)
Keywords: resistance management, Bt corn
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