Tiburon, Ontario, Canada
June 13, 2011
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has approved Canada’s first, single bag refuge solution for corn. With this regulatory authorization, Canadian farmers will be able to benefit from the simplicity, convenience and refuge compliance benefits that Genuity® SmartStax® RIB Complete™ corn products provide.
“Previously, the Genuity® SmartStax® trait technology was approved for a reduced refuge requirement of just 5% of planted acres,” says Shawn Winter, product development manager, with Maizex Seeds Inc. “With the RIB Complete™ approvals, products with this technology now have the seed required for refuge acres incorporated into the same single bag of seed.”
Genuity® SmartStax® RIB Complete™ (RIB refers to refuge in a bag) product will contain a blend of 95 percent Genuity® SmartStax® corn seed and 5 percent refuge (i.e. non-Bt) seed that farmers can plant across their entire field. Farmers who use these products will no longer need to plant a separate, structured refuge for insect pests on those given fields.
In corn production, a refuge is an integral component of good stewardship and resistance management. The refuge provides a shelter for insects susceptible to Bt technology so any rare, individual insects that survive after feeding on Bt corn can mate with susceptible insects and produce susceptible offspring. This preserves Bt technology – a technology that is vitally important to farmers because it protects the corn plant from the damaging yield losses caused by insect pests.
There are several benefits associated with RIB Complete™ products according to Tim Welbanks, agronomy lead for Maizex Seeds Inc. “First and foremost, we’re providing farmers with a single-bag solution to satisfy refuge requirements associated with the use of these advanced corn technologies. The simplicity and convenience associated with managing just one type of seed bag and the savings in time and labour of not having to plan and plant a separate, structured refuge is significant” says Welbanks.
“Now, with RIB Complete™ products, we’re able to go even further because we’re also supporting automatic compliance with CFIA-mandated refuge requirements, which makes good stewardship practices even easier to follow, and, in turn, supports the long term use, effectiveness and viability of these corn technologies,” he says. “Finally, we’re also making it easier for farmers to take advantage of the availability of more high-yielding traited acres associated with a reduced refuge requirement of just 5% of planted acres.”
Field scale demonstration sites of Maizex hybrids featuring Genuity® SmartStax® RIB Complete™ have been established this summer across Ontario and Quebec to showcase the simplicity, convenience and automatic refuge compliance that this technology will deliver to Canadian corn farmers.
Winter says Maizex Seeds Inc. will offer three RIB Complete™ corn hybrids beginning in 2012:
• MZ 3490SMX, 2825 heat units
• MZ 4030SMX, 3000 heat units
• MZ 4640SMX, 3200 heat units
“These hybrids not only offer the RIB Complete™ feature but will set new standards of yield and agronomics. These are solid hybrids and farmers will be proud to grow these hybrids.”
For more information on Maizex hybrids with RIB Complete™, please visit www.Maizex.com
Headquartered in Tilbury, Ontario, Maizex Seeds Inc. is the largest Canadian owned seed corn company. Maizex Seeds Inc. is committed to providing high performing corn hybrids and soybean varieties to Canadian farmers.
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