Farmers in the South have been having to deal with two obstacles when it comes to planting biotech corn.

First, the traits available to them and growers in other areas were not particularly effective against corn earworm, the same insect as the bollworm in cotton.

Second, Southern producers have only been able to plant 50 percent of their corn in Bt hybrids because of resistance issues.

That is changing, however, with the arrival of Agrisure’s Viptera 3111 trait stack. Grant Ozipko, Agrisure brand manager for corn traits, discussed the changes and other benefits of the new technology at a Syngenta Field Day near Slater, Iowa.