Abstract
Widespread use of genetically engineered maize targeting the corn rootworm complex (
Diabrotica
species) has raised concerns about insect resistance. Twelve years of university field trial and farm survey data from 10 US Corn Belt states indicate that maize hybrids expressing toxins derived from the bacterium
Bacillus thuringiensis
(Bt maize) exhibited declining protection from rootworm feeding with increased planting while pest pressures simultaneously decreased. The analysis revealed a tendency to overplant Bt maize, leading to substantial economic losses; this was particularly striking in eastern Corn Belt states. Our findings highlight the need to go beyond the “tragedy of the commons” perspective to protect sustainable use of Bt and other crop biotechnology resources. We propose moving toward a more diversified and transparent seed supply.
Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References
66
[4]
B. Morel R. S. Fallow F. Wu E. A. Casman in Battling Resistance to Antibiotics and Pesticides. R. Laxminarayan ed. (Routledge 2002); pp. 184–213
[10]
The Tragedy of the Commons

Garrett Hardin

Science 10.1126/science.162.3859.1243
[25]
A Method of Computing the Effectiveness of an Insecticide

W. S. Abbott

Journal of Economic Entomology 10.1093/jee/18.2.265a
[29]
Social Capital and the Collective Management of Resources

Jules Pretty

Science 10.1126/science.1090847
[36]
Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) US Department of Agriculture (USDA) “More and better choices for farmers: Promoting fair competition and innovation in seeds and other agricultural inputs” (USDA AMS 2023); https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/SeedsReport.pdf.
[41]
Are Bt crops safe?

Mike Mendelsohn, John Kough, Zigfridais Vaituzis et al.

Nature Biotechnology 10.1038/nbt0903-1003
[42]
S. Fleischer W. D. Hutchison S. E. Naranjo in Plant Biotechnology 2nd Edition (Springer 2021); pp. 111–125. 10.1007/978-3-030-68345-0_9
[44]
Increase in crop losses to insect pests in a warming climate

Curtis A. Deutsch, Joshua J. Tewksbury, Michelle Tigchelaar et al.

Science 10.1126/science.aat3466
[46]
J. M. MacDonald X. Dong K. Fuglie “Concentration and competition in U.S. agribusiness” (Report EIB-256 USDA ERS 2023); https://doi.org/10.32747/2023.8054022.ers.10.32747/2023.8054022.ers
[49]
R. Van den Bosch, The Pesticide Conspiracy (Univ. of California Press, 1989).

Showing 50 of 66 references

Metrics
22
Citations
66
References
Details
Published
Feb 28, 2025
Vol/Issue
387(6737)
Pages
984-989
Authors
Cite This Article
Ziwei Ye, Christina DiFonzo, David A. Hennessy, et al. (2025). Too much of a good thing: Lessons from compromised rootworm Bt maize in the US Corn Belt. Science, 387(6737), 984-989. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adm7634
Related

You May Also Like

Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films

K. S. Novoselov, A. K. Geim · 2004

61,289 citations

Optimization by Simulated Annealing

S. Kirkpatrick, C. D. Gelatt · 1983

44,123 citations

Emergence of Scaling in Random Networks

Albert-László Barabási, Réka Albert · 1999

35,859 citations

Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases

Amos Tversky, Daniel Kahneman · 1974

27,432 citations

The Tragedy of the Commons

Garrett Hardin · 1968

22,676 citations