WASHINGTON, D.C. — With spring planting just around the corner, the National Corn Growers Assoc. (NCGA) has beefed up its on-farm Bt corn refuge assessments to improve grower compliance with its insect resistance management (IRM) requirements.

As part of its enhanced compliance assurance program (CAP) implemented last year, the NCGA changed the selection process for on-farm assessments in a Feb. 9 report submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“The objective of the on-farm assessment program is to identify individual noncompliant growers and bring them back into compliance through a phased approach,” said Joanne Carden, co-chair for the NCGA’s Agricultural Biotechnology Stewardship Technical Committee’s (ABSTC) IRM subcommittee.

“The new approach to conducting IRM on-farm assessments has resulted in more noncompliant growers being identified, demonstrating that the enhanced CAP is working as planned.”

Established by the NCGA in 2008, the Bt corn refuge requirement – according to Monsanto Co. in St. Louis, Mo. – requires farmers who plant crops with Bt traits to also plant a refuge area, a block or strip of crops without the Bt gene to prevent pests from developing resistance to the technology.

To implement the CAP, technology providers also changed their procedures last year as directed by the EPA, said Mike Smith, ABSTC’s IRM subcommittee co-chair.

“In past years, we’ve randomly selected those participants,” he said. “But in 2011, we used a more targeted approach and conducted assessments based on purchase history and, as anticipated, using this methodology resulted in the identification of more noncompliant growers than in years past. Changes were also made to the grower survey and included more Bt corn products with differing refuge requirements.”

The ABSTC, a consortium of Bt corn registrants, submits an annual CAP report to the EPA describing industry-coordinated compliance assurance efforts for Bt traits. This year’s report is the first that followed the implementation of the enhanced CAP.

Under the newly-revised CAP plan, U.S. corn growers found to be out of compliance with refuge requirements will be checked more frequently by the Bt corn registrants and, as a result, have a higher probability of losing access to Bt corn if compliance is not established and maintained.

So far, the ABSTC has been pleased with the outcome of the phased compliance approach, Carden said. “The goal of these enhancements is to help growers understand the importance of following refuge requirements, provide clarity on how to meet the minimum refuge requirement for each product and ultimately improve compliance,” she said.

In 2011, the majority of growers surveyed planted the required refuge size on their farms and the majority planted a refuge within the required distance for all of their Bt cornfields. The survey said the vast majority of all Bt cornfields have an associated refuge.

The report also said the majority of growers who were out of compliance in 2010 were found to be complying with the IRM requirements during the 2011 growing season.

“This result is consistent with previous years and confirms that the CAP’s phase compliance approach in which noncompliant growers were provided additional educational materials and reassessed in 2011 is working,” the report said.

According to the report, as in previous years, adherence to refuge requirements in the cotton-growing region was lower than in the Corn Belt. The report concluded that factors contributing to lower adherence there include larger required refuge size, smaller field sizes, more diverse cropping systems and greater complexity of operations.

The cotton region, however, will receive increased focus for on-farm assessments in 2012. Moreover, as anticipated, targeted on-farm assessments identified more than three times as many U.S. corn growers out of compliance than in years past.

“Each member company independently reviewed available sales data for its Bt corn customers and assessments were conducted with growers who, according to the sales records, may have purchased little or no refuge seed,” the report said. “All noncompliant growers will undergo a second on-farm assessment to help ensure compliance in 2012.”

Amanda Taylor, government relations senior policy advisor at the Iowa Corn Growers Assoc., said it favors continued compliance with the refuge requirement for raising Bt corn.

“We support a review of current refuge requirements, including a possible reduction,” she said. “Corn Grower members should encourage our neighbors and seed corn dealers to observe this requirement.”

To help farmers develop an IRM plan and a refuge strategy, the NCGA has established a number of resources, including an updated IRM calculator to clarify refuge system options and show growers how to properly execute the requirements. Developed in collaboration with ABSTC companies, the calculator ensures it reflects all Bt products available in the industry.

Chad Blindauer, who chairs the NCGA’s Trade Policy and Biotechnology Action Team, said IRM calculators will help growers develop plans for refuge compliance.

“Since the introduction of biotech traits, the vast majority of corn growers have followed refuge requirements to help protect the efficacy of this important technology,” he said. “All growers must follow these requirements to help preserve the long-term value of this technology.

“We encourage growers to work with their seed dealers and trait developers to understand the enhanced requirements under the CAP and improve refuge compliance.”

Farmers can access the IRM calculator via their computer or smart phone by visiting www.irmcalculator.com