The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is seeking public comment on Bayer Crop Science's petition to deregulate a genetically engineered cotton variety that resists pests of the moth family: tobacco budworm, cotton bollworm, old world bollworm, Australian budworm, fall armyworm and soybean looper. Comments are open until 20 November.

Cotton bollworm and tobacco budworm infested about 68% of US cotton acres last year, roughly 5.6 million acres, said Chad Brewer, vice president of technical services at the National Cotton Council. After the boll weevil was eradicated, he said, these became probably the next most important pests. US farmers are expected to plant about 9 million acres of cotton this year.

Most cotton already carries built-in insect protection, but Brewer said this variety uses different proteins and should be more effective, helping to stop resistance building up in insect populations. It would also let growers cut insecticide sprays, since the plant's insecticidal proteins are generally more efficient.

Costs matter because about 90% of US cotton is exported to foreign textile mills and US production costs are among the highest in the world, above competitors such as Brazil. Brewer said 2025 was the third year in a row that cotton farmers' costs exceeded their income.

"We want rigorous testing," he said, but a longer review reduces competitiveness and raises development costs, so the industry would like reviews that remain rigorous but are quicker.

If approved, breeders would add the trait to their newest germplasm, and Brewer said it could be three to five years before seed is commercially available. The report is by Matthew Weaver.

Photo: Ellmist at English Wikipedia (USDA ARS image) / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Source: Capital Press